Escape from Camp 14 Critique - Research Paper Example

Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden Born and raised in a prison camp in the totalitarian North Korea, Shin Dong-hyuk underwent grotesque experiences some of which result in his permanent state of physiological bondage. Even after effecting to the south, he keeps vivid account of the inhumane experiences he went through while in the prison. Mr. Shin is arguably the only one who escaped from North Korea and shared his experiences. Owing to the disclosed nature of North Korea, most of Mr. Shin’s stories remained uninvestigated for long. Mr. Blaine Harden, a writer with the Washington Post spent time with Mr. Shin and after a series of interrogation determines several discrepancies in his account of the life and experience while in North Korea a feature that portrays his inability to gain psychological freedom even after leaving the camp. His inability to gain the psychological freedom is explainable through the analysis of the Stockholm syndrome, which helps outline several factors that account for such reactions as discussed in the essay below. Judith Lewis in her book, Trauma and recovery explains that children born ins misery grow up with the hope that adulthood would present a chance from freeing the oppressive childhood. However, the personalities developed at such tender ages often do not permit the children to achieve their hopes of freeing their miseries since they become adults with myriad trust and identity issues. As explained by the Freudian theory of psychological development, childhood is a fundamental part of human development. The thoughts people acquire in their childhoods become parts of their personality even in adulthoods. This explains the life of Mr. Shin who hoped to become free after escaping from the prison camp in North Korea. Mr. Shin had horrific lifestyle while in North Korea. He was born in the prison camp as a child to two prisoners granted the opportunity to sleep together after good work. He automatically became a prisoner on the principles of being a son to prisoners who had committed crimes against the state. Mr. Shin went without food for days and suffered various inhumane treatment. He worked alongside other prisoners and witnessed fellow children and other inmates die from hunger, diseases and accidents in the camp much to the chagrin of the prison guards. As a child, Mr. Shin hoped that life would better once he grew up. However, this would never be as he later facilitated the inhumane murder of his parents when he leaked their plan to escape to the authorities. Even after escaping the country, Mr. Shin had numerous trust and truth issues that manifested in his personality. The traits are manifestation of his personality and the traumatic experiences he underwent as a child most of which became part of his personality. Among the major lies in Mr. Shin’s account of his life in North Korea is his account of the death of his parents. In his book, Escape to the Outside World Mr. Shin asserts that he was a helpless witness of the inhumane murder of his parents and siblings. However, Blaine Harden establishes that Mr. Shin had tipped the authorities that his parents were planning an escape from the country. Planning an escape was an offence punishable by death. His successful tip thus earned him favor from the stringent authorities but not complete freedom. His act portrays the manifestation of Stockholm syndrome. Mr. Shin did not like his family; his mother had beat him for eating her lunch on several occasions. Besides the hard life in the camp, Mr. Shin opted to collaborate with the oppressive authorities thereby resulting in the ruthless murder of his entire family. Blaine Harden explains in his book that Mr. Shin did not miss love and affection while growing up as a child. The young Shin did not have any form of love either from the parents whom he rarely saw or from the prison guards who were aggressive and very abusive. Instead of receiving love and affection from his mother, young shin often received beatings and abusive comments from the mother in case he stole her food rations. This became part of his life and personality. As Freudian theory explains, the experiences of childhood become part of one’s personality in their adulthood. This explains his animalistic act of reporting his parents to the prison guards despite being aware of the punishment for committing such crimes. Trading off his parents for a few favors from the prison officers is the epitome of his inhumane nature. He believes that by tipping the prison guards of the plans his parents harbor, he would gain the trust and affection of the prison officers and therefore earn some increased portion. He has no feeling owing to the fact that he never had any from the society. Stockholm syndrome is a psychological principle that explains the behavior of hostages. The principle explains that after a prolonged exposure of the inhumane acts by their captors, fugitives are likely to become sympathetic to their captors and may at times defend their brutal actions. Mr. Shin was born and raised in the prison camp, he was therefore part of the prison and had experienced the brutality his entire life a feature that influences his sympathy and affection with the prison guards to the point of trading off his family for a negligible favors at the prison. His actions portray the development of affection towards the authorities to the point of sacrificing his own family which he would have sided with and executed the escape together. This explains a traumatic bonding between Mr. Shin and the prison guards who had not abused him for some time. He therefore mistook the absence of abuse by the guards for acts of kindness. Freudian theory on psychological development explains the role of ego on human development (Herman, 45). Through his explanation, the renowned psychologist validates the Stockholm syndrome in explaining the traumatic bonding. The ego of the victim identifies with the aggressor a process that instigates the victim to believe the values of the oppressor. After staying in the camp all his life, Mr. Shin’s ego sought for ways of defending himself a feature that would become fundamental in his psychological development. The environment is an essential influencer of an individual’s psychological growth. The ego influences the development process, after developing affection for his oppressors; Mr. Shin begins identifying with the thoughts and inhumane acts of the prison guards. This influences his view on his family thereby necessitating the tradeoff. He views the lack of brutality against him as kindness by the guards. Mr. Shin snitches his family oblivious of the fact that by staying in the camp despite his innocence is an act of brutality. Other people may analyze Mr. Shin’s inability to earn absolute freedom as a psychological disorder. Posttraumatic disorder is a rare anxiety syndrome that develops after a prolonged exposure to distressing events. Mr. Shin lived in a traumatic situation all his life; he experienced inhumane activities including murder, maiming and even rape in the prison camp. One would therefore expect Mr. Shin to experience instances of anxiety resulting from his past life. this manifests itself in the lie he depicted in the development of his book, Escape to the Outside World, in which he tries to portray himself as helpless in a bid to heighten his experiences in the prison camp. Psychologists howrver explain the children are less likely to suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder owing to their tender age and inability to distinct certain features of the society. as a child born and raised in the prison camp, Mr. Shin could not have distinguish the inhumane nature of the acts he experienced in the camp owing to the fact that he did not ever experience any her feeling from the facility. As Blaine Harden rightly puts it, Shin did not miss love because he had never known love and affection. When he later escapes from the prison and receives all the media attention and consolation from the international community, Shin becomes tempted to heighten the action in the camp with the view of either justifying his acts or gaining more compassion from his audience. The lack of any information in the secretive country perpetuates the lie but after a series of guidance and counselling, Shin opens up and tells the truth about the death of his parents. The sharp contrast in his current society from the previous society in North Korea may therefore result in instances of posttraumatic stress disorder. However, such instances should be rare owing to the inability of Mr. Shin to distinguish the activities he witnessed in the camp, which were part of his life until he became an adult. Family violence is yet another major cause of posttraumatic stress disorder; Shin experienced a lot of violence from his family. Despite separation from his father, his mother beat him severally and denied his the meagre food ration she obtained from the camp. This explains his attitude towards his parents. In retrospect, Shin the famous North Korea defector fails to achieve psychological freedom owing to the experiences he went through in the camp. The prolonged exposure to the atrocities in the camp affected his personality to date. Shin did not understand most of the things he went though. The lack of education in the camp did not help either as the young children underwent gross exposure alongside their parents in the prison. He did not know love, his parents did not show him any love while as a child. The circumstance at the camp denied the children parental love and affection thereby influencing their personalities. Childhood as an essential part of an individual’s growth affect the personality trait people acquire in adulthood. Mr. Shin had prolonged exposure to the acts of violence. Coupled with the abject lack of affection in the camp the children devised dubious ways of surviving, progressively such features influenced their personalities in adulthood thus resulting a perpetual bondage for Mr. Shin. Work cited Blaine, Harden. Escape from Camp 14: One Mans Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West. New York: Polity press, 2012. Print. Herman, Judith L. Trauma and Recovery. London: Pandora, 2001. Print. Read More