No-No Boy
by John Okada
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Book Summary Information
Author: John OkadaBrand: Univ of Washington Pr
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1978-02
ISBN: 0295955252
Number of pages: 176
Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr
Book Reviews of No-No Boy
Book Review: No-No Boy: Forgiveness, Healing, and History
Summary: 4 Stars
Many modern Americans are unaware that their own nation interned the entire Japanese population following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. Scattered literature has emerged to give an account of that period in history. In 1957, John Okada published No-No Boy, a lucid, fictional account of a young Japanese American citizen trying to find his place in society after serving time for a rash refusal to serve in the armed forces as proof of his patriotic loyalty. Okada's story, lost and then rediscovered in the mid-seventies, opens a door to understanding the difficulties of Japanese American reintegration into post-war America.
Okada portrays the struggles of Ichiro, a young man caught in a no-man's land between two cultures, despising his own stubborn and confused Japanese family, yet rejected as unpatriotic and unmanly by his own group of American-born friends. Ichiro cannot forgive himself for heeding his deluded Japanese mother and saying no to the draft, and he cannot receive forgiveness from those who offer it to him. He is in a crisis of identity and belonging.
In No-No Boy, Okada explores what it meant to be "American" to the Japanese Americans whose loyalty was put to the test. The beauty of his work is that it engenders forgiveness on several levels-by Japanese Americans towards America for the disruption of their lives during the unrealistic internment, and by America towards its Japanese American citizens for their confused response to the land and people that they considered themselves a part of. In Ichiro's case, it also meant self-forgiveness.
Okada's representation of two-way forgiveness gives permission to his character Ichiro to walk in forgiveness, thereby speeding the process of Ichiro's reintegration into society. This is portrayed beautifully throughout the story, and especially in the moving words of Ichiro's woman friend, Emi:
"In any other country they would have shot you for what you did. But this country is different. They made a mistake when they doubted you. They made a mistake when they made you do what you did and they admit it by letting you run around loose. Try, if you can, to be equally big and forgive them and be grateful to them and prove to them that you can be an
American worthy of the frailties of the country as well as its strengths."
Okada continues this thread of thinking throughout the story through characters like Mr. Carrick, a white, potential employer, and Ichiro's war-hero friend, Kenji. In the end, "in the darkness of the alley of the community that was a tiny bit of America," Ichiro "chased that faint and elusive insinuation of promise" that would restore his Americanism and his hope for a future.
In a world that is long on bitterness and revenge, No-No Boy packs a message of healing and ability to move beyond misunderstandings and errors. Although he only published one book before his untimely death, Okada left to us a novel written in the language of encouragement and forgiveness so necessary to a cynical world. Okada's approach is that of a peacemaker, and he reaches out through No-No Boy to remind us that we have a choice in how we feel about and treat one another in difficult times.
Summary of No-No Boy
John Okada was born in Seattle, Washington in 1923. He attended the University of Washington and Columbia University. He served in the U.S. Army in World War II, wrote one novel and died of a heart attack at the age of 47. John Okada died in obscurity believing that Asian America had rejected his work.Historical Books
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