The Girl with Seven Names

by

Hyeonseo Lee

The Man from Pyongyang Character Analysis

Mother’s first husband and Hyeonseo’s biological father. Grandmother arranges the marriage between Mother and the man from Pyongyang; however, Mother leaves him not long after Hyeonseo is born. Grandmother tells Hyeonseo about her biological father when she is just girl, but Hyeonseo never meets him, and she considers Father, Mother’s second husband, to be her father.
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The Man from Pyongyang Character Timeline in The Girl with Seven Names

The timeline below shows where the character The Man from Pyongyang appears in The Girl with Seven Names. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: A Train Through the Mountains
Oppression, Human Rights, and North Korea Theme Icon
Family Theme Icon
...fearing for her family’s songbun, she refuses to allow her daughter to marry such a man. Grandmother meets another man—an official from the National Trading Company—through a friend in Pyongyang and... (full context)
Oppression, Human Rights, and North Korea Theme Icon
Identity and Nationality Theme Icon
...devastated and even suffers a breakdown, but in the spring of 1979, she marries the man from Pyongyang as Grandmother arranged. They marry in Pyongyang and take customary photos at the... (full context)
Identity and Nationality Theme Icon
Family Theme Icon
This time, it is Father’s family who objects to the marriage because Mother has another man’s child, but Father insists. His family reluctantly agrees, and Hyeonseo is given a new name:... (full context)
Chapter 8: The Secret Photograph
Identity and Nationality Theme Icon
Family Theme Icon
...envelope and tells Hyeonseo to open it. Inside is a picture of Mother and a man—not Father—on their wedding day.  (full context)