How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #1
"John Doe? Isn't that the name you give a missing person?"
[...]
"Actually," [the Senator's wife] said, "I don't think John Doe is a missing person. I think it's when you have the person, just not his identity." (140)
Here's a telling conversation between Pilar, the maid in the Texas Senator's household, and the Senator's wife. Pilar takes the phonetic similarity of Jun Do's name with an English idiom and runs with it. What emerges is a snapshot of the hapless Jun Do, a man without a proper given name and without the ability to choose his own fate or shape his identity for himself. Jun Do's orphan's name makes a lot of choices for him in life, consigning him to crummy jobs that no one else wants and making him and outcast, since orphans are considered bad luck. The American crew hits on a sad truth to his existence here.
Quote #2
"Whatever your file says about me," Jun Do told her, "it's wrong. I don't hurt people anymore. That's the last thing I want to do." (152)
In this case of mistaken identity (Wanda has misidentified Jun Do as Commander Ga, from the tattoo on his chest), we learn something about Jun Do's inner life. He's no longer the desperate orphan willing to sacrifice everyone for his own self-preservation. He's hoping to shape a new identity for himself. Ironically, the one he's assigned was not a very nice dude, either.
Quote #3
"None of this is his fault. He just does what he's told. You've got to understand—where he's from, if they say you're an orphan, then you're an orphan. If they tell you to go down a hole, well, you're suddenly a guy who goes down holes. If they tell you to hurt people, then it begins." (153)
Jun Do is trying to explain to Wanda how things work in North Korea: first, you start with a story from the state. Then, the citizen complies. Neither the "Minister" nor Jun Do has a say in the deception being practiced on the Americans. Notice how seamlessly Jun Do weaves his story into his defense of the Minister.