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Chapter 7
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Sun is Also a Star, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Immigration and the American Dream
Passion vs. Reason
Interconnectedness and Destiny
Isolation vs. Connection
Summary
Analysis
Years before in South Korea, when Min Soo and Dae Hyun fell in love, Min Soo never imagined they'd end up in America. Dae Hyun had always been poor, but he had a cousin in New York City who offered to help. In New York, Min Soo and Dae Hyun did well. When Min Soo discovered she was pregnant, she worried over what to name her baby. In Korea, family names come first and contain one's family history. In America, the family name comes last, and Dae Hyun says that shows how Americans value individualism.
Min Soo's struggles to name her child illustrates that simply immigrating to the US successfully doesn't mean that an immigrant then has an easy life. Instead, an immigrant’s life involves constantly having to reevaluate how one fits into the greater culture, while still honoring their heritage.
Themes
Min Soo worried and worried over whether to give her son an American or Korean name. The narrator explains that names are powerful, as they work like a map to show someone who and where they are. Min Soo compromised: she gave her sons American first names and Korean middle and last names. In doing so, she made sure her sons would know where they were from and where they were going.
