Human Experience In Masaji Ishikawa's A River In Darkness

In Masaji Ishikawa's historical memoir A River In Darkness, he recounts his life in North Korea. Ishikawa witnessed many horrors during his life there, driving him to escape. Ishikawa is beaten, abused, and given impossible orders by the North Korean state. These conditions cause him to attempt suicide and then run from North Korea. Humans would rather die than fight when circumstances are oppressively dire.

In A River In Darkness, Masaji Ishikawa's thoughts reveal how a human would instead jump than fight back when driven to the edge. One example is, "Whatever I did was a waste of time. A waste of effort ... The hell with this! Just end it! The pain of death would be nothing compared to this hell on earth. (93)" Here, Ishikawa is frustrated

One example of the loss of humanity under the North Korean regime is: "We were nothing but a bunch of ravenous ghosts. The barely living dead (126)." Here Ishiwawa alludes to zombies with his comments about the "Barely living dead," comparing the appearance of the starving masses to the decayed facsimiles of life. One example of a comparison of seeming paradise to the hellish conditions of North Korea is: "I looked around and wanted to weep at what I saw. The telephone is on the table. A radio. Some fruit in a bowl. The dog snoozing by the window. Compared with North Korea, this was Shangri-La (138)." Ishikawa alludes to a valley of paradise, contrasting his life of abundance in China with the desperation of North Korean life. Ishikawa efficiently depicts the unimaginably terrifying existence of the North Korean proletariat to an audience typically lucky to have not lived through

Masaji Ishikawa's thoughts reveal how a human would instead jump than fight back when driven to the edge. Ishikawa's thoughts show the perverted genius of the North Korean regime, which utilizes the fact that a human, driven far enough, will kill themselves rather than attempt to rebel against their apparent fate. Sensory imagery frequently illustrates life's horror under the North Korean regime, as used by the author. The horrendous conditions placed upon the North Korean populace are expertly illustrated with sensory imagery to create a clear picture of the demonic practices enforced upon the North Korean people that blunt them and their energies to the point that they are unwilling to resist the harsh orders. Ishikawa employs diction to make impactful statements about the conditions in North Korea. Ishikawa potently exercises diction to expound upon the oppressive conditions able to remove the human will fight. Masaji Ishikawa fuses figurative language into the overarching theme of human experience. Ishikawa efficiently depicts the unimaginably terrifying existence of the North Korean proletariat to an audience typically lucky to have not lived through hell with his use of word