“We’re not living in the Kingdom of Denmark anymore, so couldn’t you say we’ve lost our country, too? Our ancestors had a sprawling kingdom that encompassed Greenland, but now we live in this one tiny country on the edge of Europe.”

As Knut watches the program on extinct countries, he begins to think of how his own nation has changed over time and how different it is from the country his ancestors knew. The present-day Denmark is significantly different from the Kingdom of Denmark, but many of its cultural traditions remain, making his situation very different from that of Hiruko, whose country no longer exists.

“You can say you want a classless society, but once you’ve boarded a big, safe ship, it’s hard to screw up the courage to switch to a dinghy. If things went on this way I’d get lazier and more depressed by the year, and maybe wind up sick like my mother.”

Knut feels guilty about his privilege as a citizen of a generous welfare state. He takes the positives and perks of living in such a society and worries that no amount of goodwill will make him sacrifice it, as he is too comfortable, even if the long-term effects are detrimental.

“A few days before, on my way to buy a sandwich at a neighborhood shop, I’d seen a sign for an embassy. Of a country so tiny and unpretentious it made me happy to know it was still around.”

Hiruko struggles with the fact that her nation no longer exists and that she is isolated on another continent. When she sees another small country’s embassy—proof that it still exists—it brings her some joy to know that this country still exists.