Analysis Of John Okada's No-No Boy

In the United States World War II has been one of the most remembered wars of all time. Acclaimed historian Ronald Takaki asserts that for many Americans, World War II was fought for a “double victory”: on the battlefront as well as on the home front. Takaki’s book Double Victory: A Multicultural History of America in World War II reminds the audience that there was much, much more happening at home and on the frontlines during World War II than in the battlefield. Takaki presents a strong central argument; it illuminates the incongruity of America's own oppressive behavior toward minorities at home, even while proclaiming the role in World War II as a fight against oppression abroad. It also pays tribute to the determination and perseverance of ethnically diverse Americans in their two-front war against prejudice and fascism. In addition Takaki tells the story through the lives of ethnically diverse Americans: Japanese Americans who felt betrayed by their own country when families were sent to internment camps; For African Americans, the war for freedom had to be fought in their country’s own backyard; a Navajo code talker who uses his complex native language to transmit secret battle messages and confound the Japanese, while his people are living in desperate poverty on a government reservation. Their dual struggle to defeat the enemy abroad and overcome racism at home gives the Double Victory its title and its texture.

Among this group of “Nisei” was the Uchida family from Berkeley, California. Yoshiko Uchida, the youngest daughter in the Uchida family was a senior at the University of California at Berkeley at the time of the attacks. Years later, Yoshiko became a prolific writer of children’s books (Sato 66). In her book, “Desert Exile”, published in 1982, Uchida gave a personal account of the evacuation and incarceration of her family during World War II (Sato 66). Uchida’s book raises awareness to the specter of racial prejudice and the hope that no other group of Americans would have to endure this type of injustice and violation of their human rights (Sato 66).

The attempts by the policemen to collect money from Sone’s parents, likely influenced by their ethnicity and inability to speak fluent English, may reveal the troubles faced by many Japanese or Japanese-Americans at the hands of the U.S. police force. The racism described in Nisei Daughter was not limited to confrontations with police officers, however. When her family hoped to rent a living space for summer, Sone accompanied her mother in house-hunting, coming across a woman who said dryly that she did not want any Japanese around, though with an ethnic slur that was common at the time (Sone, 114). The blatant racism Sone recounts in Nisei Daughter allows the autobiography to demonstrate a few characteristics of living in the United States as a Japanese-American.

In Jamie Ford’s historical fiction Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, this split narrative focuses on two eras: 1942 and 1986. Within these era’s, Ford’s novel focuses on a Chinese boy, Henry Lee, and what it was like to grow up in the international district with prejudice everywhere, especially in his own family being a first generation American. His novel tells the story of Henry, as well as a Japanese girl by the name of Keiko. The novel tells the story of these two young friends and the hardships faced when the government sends Keiko and her family away to the Japanese internment camps in the Northwest in the 1940’s. His novel displays the effects

There are many things that happened to Japanese-American immigrants during World War 2 that people in this time period aren’t really familiar with. A story from a Japanese woman, Jeanne Wakatsuki-Houston, who was born and lived in this era, with help from her husband, James D. Houston, explains and sheds some light during the times where internment camps still prevailed. The writing piece titled “Arrival at Manzanar", takes place during her childhood and the Second World War. In the beginning, Jeanne and her family were living a calm and peaceful life in a predominantly white neighborhood, until disaster struck the world and they were forced to move due to escalating tensions between Japanese Orientals and white Americans. At the time, Japanese-Americans, like Jeanne, were forced to live in an internment camp, which is a prison of sorts, due to the war with Japan. The text is being told through a first person point-of-view in which Jeanne herself tells the story through her experiences during the war. In that story, which contains only a part of the original text, much of the setting took place either prior to and during the time she was sent to the internment camps and describes her struggle with it. This story clearly states the importance of family and perseverance which is shown through her use of pathos, definition, and chronological storytelling.

     I think Monica Sone focuses on, and clearly shows, the tension that arose in the Japanese American community because they felt torn between two distinct cultures and amongst themselves. There was also much confusion in this pre-World War II and during WWII era concerning the place of Japanese Americans in the United States. The Issei, or first generation of immigrants from Japan, were generally highly organized in their communities. They tended to stay in close connection with traditional Japanese culture. The Issei spoke their native language, practiced traditional Japanese customs, and formed church groups, and other social communities amongst themselves. Similarly, the Nisei, or second generation Japanese American, were also highly organized and formed strong ties amongst themselves separate from the Issei. The Nisei attended Japanese schools, which enhanced their use of the Japanese language, but more importantly, created a social network of peers. They participated in church programs, and sports teams together. One main difference between the Issei and Nisei was that the Nisei were considered Americans. They were born here and they held complete citizenship. This was not true for the Issei. Another factor that separated the

Through the personal stories of his hair, love life, and behavior, Liu is able to show the effects of his assimilation. The second section deals with Liu’s struggles to conform to white stereotypes as an Asian American. With his personal anecdotes, he establishes himself as a more credible source to speak on the subject of assimilation. The second section uses narration to provide evidence about Liu’s definition of assimilation.

Queer Compulsions by Amy Sueyoshi serves as a wonderful insight of various struggles of Japanese immigrants with Americans in its depiction of specific individual of Yone Noguchi through his intimate relationship with other Americans of both sexes. Through the life of Noguchi, the author aims to touch on both racial and sexual (both sexual identity and gender) standards which were expected at the time, and how those affected not only the life of Noguchi, but also the lives of many Japanese immigrants. Most part of the book, from Chapter 1 to 4, the author talks extensively about relationships (not only intimate/family relationships, but also other relationships with general American population, especially Bohemian) that Noguchi had from the beginning of his life.

and had little to none affection for Japan. To Ichiro, the U.S. was his homeland, and he should be loyal to the U.S. by joining the military. This generational gap between two different immigrant generations, Ichiro and his paranoid and controlling mother, already had the potential to create conflicts; yet the war between Japan and the U.S. intensified the tension. To Ichiro, being a No-No Boy caused by his mother’s powerful influence was destructive to him. His decision was against his will; and this decision not only destroyed his future by sending him to jail for two years, but also made him no longer a true American citizen which he used to identify himself to, because he betrayed his country. However, Ichiro was not a true Japanese either, since Japan was foreign to him in the first place. Thus, Ichiro was neither a true American nor a true Japanese; both side rejected him. Failed to gain back his bright future and seek for belonging and acceptance, Ichiro was constantly in confusion and rage. And this could be seen throughout Ichiro’s character development as he never felt peaceful or relieved, and he kept regretting about his decisions, kept questioning his self-identity and self-worth, kept punishing himself by rejecting any possible opportunities which might provide him a better future… not until his mother passed away. The quote from Ichiro’s mother revealed one of the major sources that caused Ichiro’s

Mary Matsuda Gruenewald, Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camps

The differences in Ichiro’s family contributed to his self-hatred and seemingly lost identity. To him, he was the “emptiness between the one and the other and could see flashes of the truth that was true for his parents and the truth that was true for his brother” (Okada, 19). He did not want to be Japanese because he did not know the language and was consumed with anger and hatred towards his parents because even they weren’t any less Japanese even after living in America for thirty-five years, thus utterly rejecting America (Okada, 19). In addition, his mother’s defiance of the reality of Japan’s loss in the war and their inability to go back to Japan as she hoped for, as well as his father’s lack of control and courage only increases his desire to not be Japanese. However, Ichiro’s

Roger Daniels’ book Prisoners without Trial is another book that describes the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. This piece discusses about the background that led up to the internment, the internment itself, and what happened afterwards. The internment and relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II was an injustice prompted by political and racial motivations. The author’s purpose of this volume is to discuss the story in light of the redress and reparation legislation enacted in 1988. Even though Daniels gives first hand accounts of the internment of Japanese Americans in his book, the author is lacking adequate citations and provocative quotations. It’s

Upon Ichiro’s return to Seattle, he finds himself in an America that is unwelcoming and cold towards Japanese Americans, primarily to those who refused to serve in World War II. Though the book does not delve into Ichiro’s time spent in prison, and only takes place within the after effects of his imprisonment, Ichiro’s response to his mother shows that his imprisonment has continued to follow him into his home life. Though through his birth in America making him a rightful American, he feels displaced by his own citizenship, Okada writes, “I blame myself,” (Okada 17). Ichiro blames himself for answering ‘no’ to the loyalty questions. Ichiro places blame on himself for things that are beyond his control. He is obsessed with his identity being a whole of one thing, as being “half” or

officials eventually began to recruit these internees into the American army. Not only was WWII a war about political alliances and geographical sovereignty, but it was also a war about race and racial superiority throughout the world. Propagating this idea, Dower (1986) argues, “World War Two contributed immeasurably not only to a sharpened awareness of racism within the United States, but also to more radical demands and militant tactics on the part of the victims of discrimination” (War Without Mercy: p.5). In elucidating the racial motivations and fallout from WWII, Dower helps one realize the critical role that race and racial politics played during the war and are still at play in our contemporary world. An analysis of this internment process reveals how the ultimate goal of the U.S. internment of Japanese Americans and the United States’ subsequent occupation of Japan was to essentially “brainwash” the Japanese race into demonstrating allegiance to America.

The Japanese and their rabid ethnocentrism have their effect on the narrator’s family. The family is generally happy and well structured. The narrator lives with his mother, father, little sister and grandfather. As mentioned before, the narrator’s family pressures him to be better than the Japanese students. Upon returning home after being beaten, the men of the house invite him to eat with them and drink wine. This is a strong scene that is filled with the proudness of a parent for their son. Simply standing up to a