An Analysis of Suki Kim's 'Facing Poverty With a Rich Girl's Habits'

Korean men made the journey to America as a way to start anew and generate new opportunities. Some saved for the expensive trip and some signed contracts in order to work off the cost of their trip. Korean women’s journey to America was one that offered much more difficulty and disappointment. Korean picture brides was a common

Imagine thinking you are living life to its absolute fullest. You are in the happiest country in the world. You have no worries, nor do your neighbors, friends, parents, or classmates. This is how most people can say their childhood seemed like: carefree and happy. That is, until one day you mature a little bit, and realize the world is not all flowers and butterflies. You start to the problems in the world: death, sadness, financial issues, and so much more. Hyeonoseo Lee makes a speech called “My Escape from North Korea.” Her speech is all about how she grew up thinking her life was wonderful, but soon realized the actual tragedies of not only life, but also living in North Korea. Throughout her speech, she used many rhetorical appeals to engage the audience, including ethos, pathos, and logos.

As a result of the regimes isolationist policy the people of North Korea suffered greatly in both mental and physical health. The hold the state had over the beliefs of the citizens presented in “Nothing to Envy”, varied from absolute belief to uncomfortable awareness. The reader is presented often with Mrs. Song’s dedication to the regime, and Kim Il-sung himself. A mother of four she was often gone from home, working and attending ideological training sessions. “Fridays she stayed especially late for self-criticism. In these sessions members of her work unit- the department to which she was assigned- would reveal to the group anything they had done wrong—Mrs. Song would usually say, in all sincerity, that she feared she wasn’t working hard enough” (Pg. 43).When Kim Il-sung died, she

Throughout time, humankind has been known for many characteristics that make it notable and fascinating. Man is praised for many capabilities like creativity, art, and altruism, but perhaps the most notable trait we claim as our own is the ability man possesses for adaptation and survival, both emotionally and physically. In the memoir The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Chol-Hwan Kang, the author details the events that led to his imprisonment, his time in captivity, and his release from prison camp as well as his escape from North Korea. The autobiographical work is not only touching because of the suffering Kang and the other prisoners he writes about experience, but primarily because the story focuses on the desperate struggle of individuals to survive and adapt to even the most horrendous of circumstances. The memoir shows the tenacity and resilience of man through its accounts of prisoners’ struggle to feed themselves and their families, Kang’s desire for comforts as coping mechanisms, and the reluctance of Kang to adapt to change.

He starts by expressing how Koreans of New York’s metropolitan area made only 68 percent of the median income of those who were not Asian. Takaki adds that more than three-quarters of greengrocers came to America with a college education (p.124). Those who were engineers, teachers, or administrators in Korea, took a step downward in status when coming to America and becoming a shopkeeper. Although they put in long hours and worked hard, Korean shopkeepers earned $17,000-$35,000 a year. This usually represented the work of an entire family not just one individual. Takaki used these examples to show that although Korean Americans seem to make the average income but they do not. Their earnings displayed the work of the entire family, while in non-asian families one individual might make this

Written by Margaret K. Pai, the Dreams of Two Yi-min narrates the story of her Korean American family with the main focus on the life journeys of her father and mother, Do In Kwon and Hee Kyung Lee. Much like the majority of the pre-World War II immigrants, the author’s family is marked and characterized by the common perception of the “typical” Asian immigrant status in the early 20th century: low class, lack of English speaking ability, lack of transferable education and skills, and lack of knowledge on the host society’s mainstream networks and institutions (Zhou and Gatewood 120, Zhou 224). Despite living in a foreign land with countless barriers and lack of capital, Kwon lead his wife and children to assimilate culturally,

“I would tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices,” Elie Wiesel tells his former self (118). Wiesel has dedicated a majority of his future to fighting against the world’s silence with lessons such as these found in his memoir, Night. Even after undergoing the mass genocide called the Holocaust and hearing of the experiences from one of the victims himself, the world has fallen into a time of suffering yet again. Today, North Korea’s line of oppressive rulers practice their absolute control on Korean lives just as the Nazi’s oppressed the Jews. Following the second World War, the Korean War took place resulting in the country splitting in two: communist North Korea, or the Korean Worker’s Party, and democratic South Korea, or People’s Republic of Korea. This event began the brutal reign of the Kim family, consisting of Kim Ill-sung, Kim Jong-ill, and Kim Jong-un, on North Korea. For three generations, North Koreans were burdened with decades of torture, starvation, and manipulation. Now, the world is seemingly turning its eyes away from North Korea and labeling it a lost cause. There is little hope in store for these Koreans as Kim Jong-un expands his control globally with a new force of destruction: nuclear weapons. Similar to the concentration camps depicted in Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, the people of North Korea continue to face oppression

Stetz and Oh indicate although WWII has ended and is now a mass piece of history, the “comfort women” ordeal still exists today. They continue their isolated existence in poverty and poor health. They have not regained their honor nor had their pains eased. These women continue to endure insulting comments made by irresponsible Japanese officials and by neoconservative nationalists, who claim that many Asian women were merely sex workers for money during WWII. As of the end of January in 1998, the top aide to Japanese prime minister Hashimoto suggested that many women became “comfort women” for money and that the Japanese military’s use of these women was justified by the moves of the times. Within a month of the inauguration of South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, a lifelong fighter for democracy

Every year, millions of immigrants come to America from around the world. The range of diversity makes up America. America’s way of living is based on traditions that have been passed down by our ancestors from generation to generation. Immigrants are seeking change and opportunities that they may not have had in their own country. Even in today’s society, almost every immigrant faces challenges upon arriving in America. One conflict is the language barrier, having a different accent, and getting used to speaking English. Another problem is obtaining a job or finding a home without any documentation. Many immigrants face issues while securing employment and have to tackle language barriers after arriving in America. Immigrants faced similar

These days, wealth inequality is becoming a global trend. As I learned in Individuals & Societies (I&S) classes, wealth inequality is generated in the most countries in the world, especially in the countries which economies are based on capitalism. In this essay, I will write about wealth inequality in South Korea, which is my home country, because it is one of the most serious problems. To display this problem, I compare a news article as written medium, and an illustration as unwritten medium, I chose the article named “The Growing Wealth Inequality in South Korea”, because it provides much information about the wealth inequality and specifically the reasons why it has occurred in South Korea and is in English. For an illustration, I chose an image from Hankyoreh, an English language Korean newspaper.

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick provides insight into the lives of North Korean defectors while in North Korea. Their accounts give inside information about the North Korean regime which makes it possible to analyze to what extent society was an egalitarian utopia. The interview reveals that people were discriminated by social class as evident by those who were richer, and thus in a higher social strata, having more opportunities for success. There was also economic inequity which was apparent by people having different degrees of struggle. However, the problems North Koreans faced was similar, which showed there was some equality from their struggles. Overall, the interviewees give accounts which contradict the idea that the North Korean regime was promoting egalitarianism through their accounts which give counterexamples regarding social class and economic status, so their claim of egalitarianism is mostly false.

Jang is placed to work at the UFD which deals with international affairs by writing literature that is pro-North Korean. Jang’s first major assignment is to write an epic of a poem about how great Kim Jong-il was as a leader of the country. Jang has decided to use Kim Jong-il’s tears as a metaphor for happiness and self-restriction. The people at the UFD agreed with Jang and he is set to write the epic. The person in charge of the UFD allows him to go back to his hometown.

The person I am interviewing is a 1.5 generation female immigrant, which means that she was born in a different country, but grew up in the United States (Feliciano Lec.1/4/16). For my interviewees privacy, I will refer to her as Angela throughout the interview paper. I will be talking about the experiences and the difficulties she has had assimilating to the United States. I will also be analyzing and comparing these experiences to our lecture notes and readings we did in class.

Summary In the beginning of Poor People, the author William Vollmann, interviews a woman named Sunee from Klong Toey, Thailand, regarding poverty. Sunee is a middle-aged drunk woman, works from 8 a.m to 5:30 p.m at an illegal cleaning company, has 5 children, a helpful mother and no husband. In the interview Vollmann asks Sunee if she’s poor and Sunee says yes(6).

Hyeonseo Lee gave a presentation on TED Talk entitled, “My Escape from North Korea”, summarizing about her life in North Korea. She was born and raised there and sing patriotic songs. All the history books told her that North Korea was the best country in the world. As she got older, a famine struck North Korea in the mid-1990’s. Although, she never experienced starvation, she witnessed the events first hand. This was the pushing point for Hyeonseo, who decided to leave North Korea. Due to China and North Korea’s stringent border policies and the Chinese government immigration policy, the life of a North Korean refugee is challenging and extremely risky. They risk being deported back to the very country that they escaped from. There are reports and stories about the violation of human rights and labor camps in North Korea. She would live in China for ten years before moving to South Korea. Hyeonseo was forced to help her family escape from North Korea. The regime caught Hyeonseo for sending money to her family. Lee’s family to be relocated by the order of the North Korean government. She needed to smuggle them through China to a South Korean embassy in Laos. Unfortunately, Hyeonseo Lee’s story won’t be the last we hear about the abysmal conditions in North Korea. There are, potentially millions more, stories detailing the humanitarian disaster in the country and we must take steps to prepare for the eventual collapse of the country.