How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #7
... Ga watched how the candlelight played on their faces, how Sun Moon's eyes lowered with delight, how the children relished their mother's attention, and how they kept trying to outdo one another for it, and how, as a family, they turned that melon to rind, saving the seeds in a small wooden bowl... (369)
This is familial unity and love as it should be, not as Jun Do first conceived of it while trying to make the best of the miserable Orphan Master's abuse. It's ironic that this shining moment should be unreal—this is not his family, and he is not Ga—but it's the best that this orphan can do. Yet through his naiveté and desire to be a good husband and father, Impostor Ga has made this family his own and created this moment of happiness for all of them.
Quote #8
"A name isn't a person," Ga said. "Don't ever remember someone by their name. To keep someone alive, you put them inside you, you put their face on your heart. Then, no matter where you are, they're always with you because they are a part of you." (379)
Impostor Ga is doing his best to impart useful wisdom to Sun Moon's children, who have become attached enough to him to want to reveal their proper names to him. He tells them that their relationship is really beyond simple names. In that sense, Ga is advocating a kind of psychological tattooing of a loved one's identity directly onto the heart. It's a nice metaphor for the lasting impression this family has made on his memory and identity.
Quote #9
"They're about a woman whose beauty is like a rare flower. There is a man who has great love for her, a love he's been saving up for his entire life, and it doesn't matter that he must make a great journey to her, and it doesn't matter if their time together is brief, that afterward he might lose her, for she is the flower of his heart and nothing will keep him from her." (396)
Impostor Ga interprets the words of "The Yellow Rose of Texas," which he has just sung for Sun Moon. He doesn't know all the words, and we suspect he knows little of the background of the song, but that doesn't matter. Sun Moon wants him to sing a love song that is true and isn't Party-affiliated. Jun Do hits the nail on the head here, and it's exactly what Sun Moon wants to hear. Both of them are looking for real intimacy with another person—something not planned by the state. This spontaneous and strange song choice speaks about love in such a way that Ga can apply it neatly to their situation.