We have changed our privacy policy. In addition, we use cookies on our website for various purposes. By continuing on our website, you consent to our use of cookies. You can learn about our practices by reading our privacy policy.

Pyongyang Chapter 5 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • Guy and his translator go to visit the animators on the 11th floor.
  • They’ve got everything animators need: desks, pens, paper, a rack of rifles…
  • Wait, what?
  • That’s right: a rack of rifles. Strangely, they’re wooden rifles—not for shooting. What is this, the animation color guard?
  • Back in his own office, Guy tries to listen to reggae, but no one else is singing along.
  • After lunch, Guy gets dragged along on another sights-and-sounds tour of North Korea—maybe as punishment for forcing everyone to listen to Bob Marley.
  • During the tour, Guy realizes how the North Koreans “live in a state of constant paradox, where truth is anything but constant” (5.74).
  • Then Guy compares the North Koreans to wind-up dolls.
  • Later, Guy looks out the window to listen to the propaganda truck. You read that right: the propaganda truck. Even Orwell couldn’t have thought that one up.