The Portraits Symbol Analysis

When Hyeonseo’s family moves to the military base in Anju, the banjang presents them with two painted portraits of the Great Leaders, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. The portraits symbolize the power and oppression of the North Korean regime in Lee’s book. The portraits of the Great Leaders must be placed at the highest point of each North Korean home, and no other paintings or pictures are permitted to be hung higher, or on the same wall. Each household is given a white cloth with which to clean the portraits, and the cloth cannot be used to clean anything else. Once a month, a government official wearing white gloves comes to inspect the portraits for compliance and cleanliness. Anyone found to have dirty or crooked portraits is reported to the Bowibu and punished severely for disloyalty. Stories of portrait-saving heroics are popular in North Korea, and Hyeonseo is once told about a man who carried the portraits up over his head through raging floodwaters. One night, while Mother is transferring heating fuel to a new container, she accidentally splashes some on the cooking coals, and the entire house goes up in flames. As Mother, Hyeonseo, and Min-ho watch the roof of their house collapse, Father runs back inside and emerges with both portraits tucked safely under his arm. He doesn’t bother to save their money or family heirlooms—just the portraits. The placement of the portraits in every North Korean home and the widespread determination to protect the portraits at all costs reflect the power of the Kim regime and the oppressive hold it has over the North Korean people, whom the regime controls through fear and ideological indoctrination.