How It All Goes Down
- After working on the cartoon, Guy stares out the window and watches people chase sheets of paper through the rainy streets.
- Guy thinks it’s hilarious.
- At least, Guy thinks it’s hilarious until he realizes that these sheets of paper are animation drawings.
- Oh, wait: false alarm. It’s from another cartoon. It doesn’t affect Guy personally; therefore, it’s funny again.
- Over the next few days, Guy walks to places, he buses to places, he rides to places. However he goes, he sees North Korea, and its army of mandatory volunteers (oxymoron alert), who do all the work.
- Guy takes Comrade Sin out for a drink to pick his brain about the regime. Of course, Comrade Sin loves it. He’s practically patriotic about it.
- That night, Guy gives his guide, Mr. Kyu, a copy of 1984, telling him it’s “science fiction” (4.110). Oh, nothing’s as sci-fi as North Korea.