Written by: Kathy
Kim Jong Il's character in Adam Johnson's The Orphan Master's Son is very similar to Game of Thrones' Joffrey Baratheon. Both are too focused on power and both are greedy. Their stories generally progress in the same way and they have the same general outcomes, they are still in power. These two stories suggest that sometimes people in charge do not have full control of the situation, but they still get the pride of being in power.
Kim Jong Il and Joffrey are very focused on power. Kim Jong Il keeps wanting to show off to the Americans to show that the North Koreans are richer. He takes many over their products and upgrades them. He believes he has total power over everyone, but Jun Do and his friends manage to get Sun Moon and her children to escape North Korea with the American's plane, right under Kim Jong Il's nose, proving to Kim Jong Il that not even he has total power over everyone. King Joffrey, like Kim Jong Il, believes that he can do anything he wants to do, just because he is in charge. At a small council meeting, after getting his uncle, Tyrion, to read out a letter from the Freys telling of Robb and Cat's deaths, Joffrey declares that he wants the Freys to bring back Robb's head so that he could serve it to Sansa at his wedding feast. After Tyrion threatens Joffrey after Joffrey insults him and Sansa's family, Joffrey throws a temper-tantrum. Joffrey says he can do whatever he wants to do, because he is king. Tywin, his grandpa, eventually gets tired of his whining and tells him to go to bed and Cersei, Joffrey's mom, takes him away as Joffrey complains like a seven-year-old. This also proves that sometimes, even when someone is in the highest position of power, they can still be controlled by those around them.
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Not only are Kim Jong Il and Joffrey Baratheon power-hungry, but they are also greedy. Kim Jong Il wants Sun Moon to himself, even though she already belongs to another man. In this situation, he doesn't get what he wants, either; Sun Moon and her children are able to escape North Korea to have a life far from Kim Jong Il in the United States. Joffrey is also in a similar situation. Even though Sansa is married to Tyrion, Joffrey tells Sansa at her wedding reception "Maybe I'll visit you tonight after my uncle passes out." He doesn't, but he is still greedy to believe that he could.
Even though Kim Jong Il and Joffrey Baratheon are from too different worlds, they are very similar people. They are both power-hungry and greedy. They both are not as powerful and they think. These two characters show that even when a person has the highest rank of power, it doesn't mean that person has full power.
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