Analysis Of Escape From Camp 14

The book Escape from Camp 14, by Blaine Harden convincingly argues that North Korea is extremely hazardous to its inhabitants. The book highlights the dangers that people face, having to live in the labor camps and the perils of attempting to escape.

The biography is arranged into chapters, chapters consist of both the main character's life and detailed history relevant to the chapter. In the foreword, Blaine Harden gives a short background of how he met Shin Dong-hyuk, the main character, and how they worked on the book together. The preface of the biography gives a look into Shin's early life in Camp 14. Chapters one through twenty-three tell the complete story of the struggles that Shin suffered while growing up. The book follows Shin's

With Shin Dong-hyuk's first-hand account as well as extensive research about North Korea, the reader gains a solid understanding of the horrors of North Korea and its labor camps. The most persuasive part was the younger part of Shin's life. When describing Shin's home it was described as having “ no beds, chairs, or tables. There was no running water. No bath or shower. Prisoners who wanted to bathe sometimes sneaked down to the river in the summer. About thirty families shared a well for drinking water. They also shared a privy, which was divided in half for men and women. Defecating and urinating there were mandatory, as human waste was used as fertilizer on the camp farm” (15). In addition the only was Shin knew how to survive was by snitching on others. To save himself, he snitched on his mother and brother for attempting to escape. He was then forced to watch their execution. This supports the main argument by showing the reader how ruthless the labor camps are and how dangerous North Korea is. Escape from Camp 14 clearly persuades the reader to see that labor camps in North Korea are extraordinarily