No Boy Ichiro Analysis

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.

Liu, like any other kid wanted to be cool. He shares that one major part of being cool, was to have the cool hairstyle. For most of his childhood, Liu sported a bowl cut. The new style in his school however was hair parted down the middle and tapered on the ends. With Liu’s Asian genes it was nearly impossible to accomplish this style. After a couple years of trying various different hair styles that did not suffice as cool, he finally became content with having a crew-cut. Liu also thought that because he was Asian, he had less of a chance to get girls. Liu insists that it was the “sole obstacle” to his “advancement” (Liu 20). His response to this was to do more school activities such as write for the school newspaper and join the school newspaper. Although he wanted to disconcert stereotypes, Liu states that this made him seem like a typical “Asian overachiever” (Liu 21). Another concern Liu had from his Chinese heritage was that he had never been taught American manners. When he went to a friend’s house to sleep over, he never said “thank you” for it. When he had dinner at a friend’s house he ate differently than the others. As he began to change the way he acted and talked at friend’s houses he began to realize that he was getting further and further away from his Asian heritage.

Henry was born and raised in the United States. When he was twelve years old, he was “scholarshipping” in Rainier Elementary School, a “top white school” (Ford, 183). As the war progressed between Japan and America, his parents were desperate for him to become more “American”. As a result, they insisted for him “to stop speaking their native Chinese” and become fluent in English (Ford, 12). However, this created a problem, because Henry’s parents could not speak English, and they scolded him if he spoke Cantonese to them. Due to this, Henry had a difficult time conversing with his parents, which means that they rarely spoke with each other. Although his parents forced him to only speak English for his own safety, it ended up isolating Henry from his own family. They obviously could not form a close family relationship if they did not communicate with one another. Moreover, Henry befriending Keiko made the situation worse. His father could not accept the fact that his only son became friends with a Japanese girl.

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.

Startled by the surprise attack on their naval base at Pearl Harbor and anxious about a full-fledged Japanese attack on the United States’ West Coast, American government officials targeted all people of Japanese descent, regardless of their citizenship status, occupation, or demonstrated loyalty to the US. As my grandfather—Frank Matsuura, a nisei born in Los Angeles, California and interned in the Granada War Relocation Center (Camp Amache)—often

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

     During this time of crisis in America, the Japanese people in our country were done a huge injustice. They were stripped their constitutional rights, relocated to a location with poor living conditions, and when America apologized it was just too late. The mental and physical health impacts of this event continues to affect tens of thousands of Japanese

After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese that propelled the U.S. into World War II, paranoia causes President Roosevelt to sign an executive order forcing all people of Japanese ancestry; including those born in the U.S. to be moved to concentration camps. Even in the towns where the camps were located, stores would post signs saying “No Japs Allowed”.

On December 7,1941 Japan raided the airbases across the islands of Pearl Harbour. The “sneak attack” targeted the United States Navy. It left 2400 army personnel dead and over a thousand Americans wounded. U.S. Navy termed it as “one of the great defining moments in history”1 President Roosevelt called it as “A Day of Infamy”. 2 As this attack shook the nation and the Japanese Americans became the immediate ‘focal point’. At that moment approximately 112,000 Persons of Japanese descent resided in coastal areas of Oregon, Washington and also in California and Arizona.3

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

The early 1940’s were tough times for many Japanese living in America. This is all due to the Japanese and American conflict in World War II, after Japan decided to bomb Pearl Harbor. After this incident many Japanese-Americans were discriminated against and were thought of as bad Japanese instead of the Americans they were. A lot of these Japanese-Americans were unfairly sent to internment camps in the United States. This is also true of the incidents that take place in the fictional novel Snow Falling On Cedars, by David Guterson.

How does Guterson present the prejudice and discrimination against the Japanese Americans in chapter 1-15 of Snow Falling on Cedars.

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

"These two outcasts form an allegiance through their required work in the school cafeteria at lunchtime and learn how to survive the teasing and bullying that is often directed their way" (Library 2). This type of thinking becoming normal, especially for children who do not truly understand what is happening, is harmful for things such as teasing and physical taunting. "Henry, whose father makes him wear a large “I am Chinese” button on his coat to school each day so that he will not be mistaken for a Japanese boy, lives in the Chinese section of Seattle, Washington, immediately beside the Japanese section of the city" (Greenwalt 2). Profoundly, these young adults face the most criticism from racial ties than any adult does. Living in Washington and being Chinese usually have nothing harmful in common except when putting racial tension and the “flaming forties” in the mix. "Around 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress-no more Chinese were allowed to immigrate" (Ford 156). Even after the war ended, these racial aggregations were leaded onward

Much of the novel takes place in the wake of World War II, during a time when much “anti-Japanese hysteria” and “racial division” existed in San Piedro that is expressed “geographically” and “enacted socially” especially “in the arrangement of the courtroom during Kabuo's trial. Japanese-American audience members sit at the back of the courtroom "because San Piedro required it of them without calling it a law." This segregation of whites and Japanese is played out,” as it becomes a societal norm in the postwar. Ishmael, who is a Caucasian male, follows this norm, ultimately deepening the divide both literally and figuratively between him and other Japanese-Americans (Guterson).