The Orphan Master's Son

The new Ga awakes in Sun Moon’s bed and makes breakfast for the children. He discovers the real commander’s hiding spot and brings Sun Moon her cigarettes. The children talk to him for the first time, asking him questions about America. For the next week, the new Ga is part of a team constructing a Texas-style ranch outside Pyongyang in anticipation of the Americans’ visit. At lunch he goes to the cinema and watches Sun Moon’s movies. When he finds the real commander’s laptop, he goes through his photos, which are before-and-after shots of men he has hurt. He finds it hard to look at the photos of Comrade Buc.

The Dear Leader delivers a new script for Sun Moon, for a movie in which she will play the role of a woman whose kind husband leaves for war. When he returns, he is cruel and not physically recognizable due to his burns. In the script, the woman is trapped in the relationship and does not know if the man is truly her husband. Sun Moon believes the Dear Leader is mocking her, saying, “When he wants you to lose more, he gives you more to lose” (286).