By the time you read this, the five of us will no longer exist in this world.
-- Anonymous (chapter 16 paragraph 4)

Importance: This quote appears in a letter written to a colleague of Hyeonseo's mother. This quote drives home the severity of the famine in North Korea. It is one of the first instances where Hyeonseo realizes that her country is not as prosperous and successful as she has been led to believe by government propaganda. This quote is the beginning of her slow realization that many of her country's people are suffering and dying. This is one of the first examples of teenaged Hyeonseo's initial feelings of disillusionment about her country. It also highlights Hyeonseo's privileged upbringing which has, until now, sheltered her from many of the realities of average North Korean life.

As many discover, freedom -- real freedom, in which your life is what you make of it and the choices are...
-- Narrator (Hyeonseo) (chapter 39 paragraph 1)