1. What do you think it means to be an American? What do you think it means to be Japanese? For Kenji? For Kenji’s dad? For Ichiro? Did Kenji/ Ichiro feel more/less American/Japanese after giving their respective answers in the “loyalty questionnaire”?
2. Does Kenji’s dad feel guilty as if it is primarily his fault for Kenji’s current disability? Are there any specific lines that directly convey the dad’s thoughts about this subject? Are the dad’s feelings portrayed indirectly though the huge meal he helps prepare or his stocked whisky?
3. Despite the different answers Kenji and Ichiro gave in the “loyalty questionnaire”, both find themselves struggling at the end. Ichiro is miserable after returning from spending two years in prison and Kenji is suffering a “terminal wound”, the loss of a leg. Do you think it was possible for any Japanese-American at that time to successfully combat racism? Would answering “yes-yes” really have helped?
4. What can Kenji’s stump, symbolize? Can it symbolically represent the Japanese-American struggle during that time period?
5. Are there any similarities between Sara Smolinsky and Kenji? What factors cause the differences in their relationships with their respective fathers? Are there any similarities between Sara’s father and Kenji’s father? Differences?
6. The part where Kenji is driving to his house is described in detail, “At its foot, he braked the car almost to a full stop before carefully starting up, for the sharp angle of the hill and the loose dirt necessitated skill and caution,” (pg 2203). Can this caution and difficulty somehow symbolize Kenji’s last visit home?
7. “It was because he was Japanese and, at the same time, had to prove to the world that he was not Japanese that the turmoil was in his soul and urged him to enlist. There was confusion, but, underneath it, a conviction that he loved America and would fight and die for it because he did not wish to live anyplace else,” (pg 2205). Taking this quote into consideration, why did Kenji choose to fight?
8. The sociologist’s lecture in the relocation center resonated with Kenji’s father. The sociologist stated that the parents of Nisei (persons born in the U.S. or Canada whose parents immigrated from Japan) do not know their children. “If we are children of America and not the sons and daughters of our parents, it is because you have failed.” (pg 2207). Keeping this in mind, do you think Kenji’s father has failed as a parent considering Kenji fought for America?
9. “Them ignorant cotton pickers make me sick. You let one in and before you know it, the place will be black as night,” (pg 2211). What do you make of this racist comment said by Japanese? Is racism and hatred a repeating cycle?
10. In “Instructions to All Persons” by Inada, what is the significance of the words in parenthesis? How would this poem have sounded if it was read out loud?
11. Why do you think the words after lines 36-38, “Let us take what we can for the occasion” (pg 88) aren’t placed in parenthesis? What can this imply?
Answer to question 9.
ReplyDeleteI do think racism is a continuous cycle, but what is interesting about the racism in this text is that it isn't so much a cycle as it is an adoption of attitude. If you are anything but Anglo-Saxon, you are disadvantaged. So, in my opinion, you have to do more than just assimilate and fight in a war, you have to pick up on the majority's ideas and attitudes--even if it means being racist and discriminating against others who share the same inequalities with you.
What this also shows is how adopting this attitude of racism makes them more "American," or in some respect is a rite of passage. On page 2212 there's a Chinese girl with a white boy, and "flaunts her newly found status," and in the next paragraph there's a Japanese boy who goes to a restaurant with a Jewish companion and expects to be waited on--but is rejected instead. It's as if being seen with white people shows or proves that they are not only willing to assimilate, in that they are "leaving" their ethnic group for another, but that they should be rewarded for it (looked on with awe, get a seat at the restaurant, etc). The racism--for me--wasn't so much racist as much as it was a presentation of their "assimilation" through agreeing with the white majority's opinion of the socialized concept of "race".
Answer to question # 1.
ReplyDeleteTo be an American means to be a patriot of the United States, to love your country, to respect the laws of your country, to help your nation, if needed, to stay powerful and independent. I think Kenji's dad felt that he is Japanese only when he first came to the United States and still planned to earn money and go back to Japan for living there.After he realized that his children are more American than Japanese he decided to stay and he felt more American because he is the part of his children.
Answer to question 8 (and a cop out since I answered this in class)
ReplyDeleteI think that Kenji's father may feel like he has failed his son, but in the grand scheme of things Kenji and his father have a different value system, much like Sara Smolinsky and her father in Bread Givers. While Kenji's father was born in Japan and then immigrated to the United States, he most likely holds onto his traditional Japanese values. Kenji on the other hand belongs to the Nisei group of Japanese who were born in America. I think that having been born in America, Kenji's values drastically differ from his fathers. So for Kenji, going to war for America may seem like the right thing to do and something he values, despite what his father thinks.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYou know what I'm wondering? Was the Sociologist put there by the state or was he one of the internment hostages who believed this? Seems like a load of brain washing if it's the former. I only began considering this when Sara read the last quote in class, about the nationalistic text books. Whose nation? Was the principal concerned "the spy" was there to check for pro Japanese material or pro American?
ReplyDeleteWhat a sneaky way to turn Japanese against their own.
I think that Kenji felt more "American" after giving his answer in the questionnaire. He wanted to prove that he was so "American" by enlisting in the war. I mean, being that he was Japanese and would fight against his own people, shows alot of courage...in his eyes though. Everytime I read something where someone wants to prove their "American-ness", I laugh. Immigrants and people from all different backgrounds is what makes America. I feel bad that Ichiro feels shameful after not enlisting in the war. I think he should feel proud. Being that I am Haitian, I would not feel bad if I chose not to side with the Americans if America and Haiti were to go to war. But then again, if jail time was one of the consequences if I did not enlist, then it would be a decision to think about. It's one of those situations where I would have to experience it in order to make a decision. With that said, being that Ichiro made that decision, knowing the punishment, I think he should feel like a hero.
ReplyDeleteIn regard to question 8, I do not believe Kenji's father to have failed as a parent, and it seems much more likely that it is, in fact, Ichiro's parents who are lacking. Kenji was raised in America, and it would have been impossible for Kenji's father to prevent this from influencing him in some way. He could not share the love of Japan that his parents and the previous generation felt, because it was not truly his homeland. By allowing Kenji to make his own decision, and not forcing his own value system onto his son, he enabled Kenji to make the decision for himself. It would be absurd to think that Kenji did not know his father would prefer him not to fight, but he decided to enlist anyway.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Ichiro's parents expressly forbid it, and Ichiro obeyed. He avoided battle and spent his time in prison, staying safely out of combat. He emerged unscathed, but a fissure was created between himself and his parents because of it. His parents, unwilling to accept that there son was a product of America, made his decision for him, and harmed their relationship by so doing.
Kenji's father acted with respect towards the decision of his grown son, while Ichiro's parents were reactionary and firm in their judgement. Putting aside the moral question of asking imprisoned civilians to fight a war against their own parentss country and strictly addressing the relationship between parent's and their grown children, Kenji's father decision can be viewed as the right one.
As per question 4, I think Kenji's stump represents him cutting his Japanese life out of him. When he made the decision to join the United States armed forces pledging his allegiance to them. He chose America over Japan. In a sense a piece of his nationality was cut away from him.
ReplyDeleteKenji's stump.
ReplyDeleteI think that Kenji's stump is one of the most potent images and symbols in No No boy. Kenji as a character shows us the consequence of patriotism and the cost of Americanization as Okada sees them. He is very skeptical and cynical of true acceptance of immigrant peoples into American culture. He sees the situation of Japanese enlistment or encampment as s catch 22 in which Japanese immigrants are forces to either risk their lives or remain institutionalized. Kenji's festering wound must be periodically widdled away to stave of an infection which will inevitably kill him. This parasitic festering is a perfect metaphor for how American culture and policy treats immigrant populations during the repressive era. You may as a Japanese American be allowed by the dominant culture to remain on American soil, however your personhood will destroyed by inches.