Reading Notes #8

1. North Korea is one of the very few countries in the world that still has communism. Guy Delisle reflects regular day in such a society. He first begins to explain how there are pictures and paintings of the ruler, Kim Jong Il. Proceeding with how a man and a woman should dress. Guy explains that anything is possible if I keep at. He was referring to about how he would like a bike. He was told that everyone in North Korea is healthy. There is no one that is unhealthy. There are also strict rules that if a picture or a painting of the ruler is on a wall nothing else can be put up on the same wall. I believe that such a society is almost impossible to live in. Where every move you take is constantly being watched over. Where you don’t make your own schedule, but someone else does it for you. Wake up at this time. Go to the bathroom at this time. Have breakfast at this time. Go to work at this time. Go home at this time. Eat dinner at this time. Go to bed at this time. For me I would find that exhausting and depressing all at the same time. Such a society can’t properly function. Different families have different lives. How can you possibly stay within these guidelines and stay sane.

2. The main theme in this story is powerlessness. The people that live in North Korea have no power when it comes to making decisions about their roles in society. If you work for a large corporation and you're a secretary to a CEO or a large figure, you don't get an opinion on how things are run. You do your job and that's it. No ifs, ands or buts about it.

3. This comic strip reminds me of how people in Poland were treated during WWII. They had no power over their rights. They were told what to do and if you didn't cooperate you would be tortured and then killed. That was a time in the world's history that should never be repeated.

4.

• Question 1: Do you believe people live unjustly in North Korea?
• Question 2: Would you ever consider to live in North Korea? Why?
• Question 3: Do you believe the U.S. would ever have the same government system as North Korea?

5.

• - Topic #1: North Korean leaders
• - Topic #2: Social living in North Korea
• - Topic #3: Differences between North Korea and South Korea

6.

• Treatises - 1: a systematic exposition or argument in writing including a methodical discussion of the facts and principles involved and conclusions reached 2obsolete
• Décolleté - 1 : wearing a strapless or low-necked dress 2 : having a low-cut neckline
• Maltese - 1 : a native or inhabitant of Malta 2 : the Semitic language of the Maltese people 3 : any of a breed of toy dogs with a long silky white coat, a black nose, and very dark eyes