Literary Analysis Essay on No-No Boy by John Okada

Introduction

The book "No-No Boy" by John Okada maps the journey of a young Japanese American, Ichiro Yamada in the United States, explaining his position as either Japanese or an American. The book is set before, during and after World War II, which makes it the perfect book to highlight issues surrounding the war (Okada, 2014). The title of the book is derived from the loyalty questionnaire in which the young boy answers no to both Japanese and America based loyalty question. The book is surrounded by the theme of racial violence and discrimination, and tension between citizens and the immigrants during and after world war II which will be explored in this paper.

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The novel which was published in 1957 depicts the effect of war on the Japanese immigrants, where even Japanese born in America are considered outsider and sent into prison and relocation center for not pledging allegiance to America in times of war. It also reflects broken families in the country that live in fear of lack of identity, which makes them face discrimination and racism throughout the war. John Okada as the author was successful in delivering a story whose character can capture the empathy of the reader and make the reader relate to the suffering of the character. The book was able to show the socio-historical issues surrounding the war as they had appeared in real time (Delgado, 2018).

The book portrays the life of Ichiro as a hero who is yet to find his own identity. One could not afford to be a Japanese and an American at the same time. In such a scenario, one had to choose one nationality. The protagonist when asked to serve in the United States army declines, and as a counteraction also refuses to swear allegiance to the Japanese emperor (Schulz, 2018). This action leads to the aim of the novel, where the writer seeks to find the reason and internal identity of the protagonist in a country currently under war and full of discrimination and racial segregation. As a consequence of answering no to the loyalty question, the boy is sent to an internment camp and later sentenced to a two years imprisonment. Throughout the novel, Ichiro is loyal to Japanese culture and tries as much as possible with his mother to avoid the American influence yet they consider themselves American citizen.

Ichiro's parents are the last Issei, a generation that was not born in American but lives there. Issei was very possessed with not corroding their culture unlike the younger generations born in America who considered themselves American citizens (Okada, 2014). Ichiro's mother believed she would one day return to Japan which lead to a conflict that shows a family crisis in the novel. Ichiro ends up blaming her mother for his decisions for not joining the war. He faces a lot of discrimination from blacks, the white, the Japanese American citizens and local to the extent he wishes he had joined the war. After being released from the prison, the protagonist despairs life and wishes to be like his brother who is disabled by the war but with a sense of American identity.

Racial discrimination is one of the main themes of the book that has been explored deeply by the author. Ichiro faces discrimination from many sides as he is discriminated by the whites who don't accept him, and the Japanese who feel that he influences the American culture (Okada, 2014). Ichiro wishes that people would stop being discriminative based on nationality or racism and makes the reader sympathize with his experience. Institutional discrimination is depicted in the book when the protagonist states that the people were living in the segregated neighborhood before they were sent into the camps where they were doing the low paying job. The locals had preserved the menial and dirty jobs to the immigrants while preserving the white-collar jobs for themselves.

The Japanese people face discrimination due to their race. The Japanese living in America were among Asians who were facing discrimination before even the war began. Due to the success of the Japanese immigrants, the locals felt threatened as they moved from being labor workers in the farms to owners of the farm. The discernment intensified after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1942 when the president of United States declared an executive order of evacuating all the people of Japanese ancestry into a camp.

The increase of Asian people in America was viewed as a threat to their labor workforce. Racial discrimination became a common and acceptable norm whose aim was to intimidate the people of Asian origin in order to reduce their political and economic power. After the bombing of the pearl harbor by the Japanese, it intensified the need for the Japanese to be sent into the government camp ("Relocation and Incarceration of Japanese Americans During World War II," 2018). They were evacuated from their homes leaving behind their business and belongings and joined the segregation camps.

The army camps they lived in acted as a community with schools and medical facilities. In the camps, the government set a high fence around them making them feel like prisoners. The facilities in the camps were not of standard; the school had a large student to teacher ratio, reported that one teacher was entitled to taking care of 50 students. The lands in the camp were infertile, and the government restricted the use of land outside the camp. Hence people in the camp have insufficient food. Overcrowding in the camp was an issue that remained unaddressed for long by the government. The Japanese which includes the protagonist were kept in poor living conditions for more than four years in the camps.

In the book, Ichiro faces an additional level of discrimination for refusing to join the army. This is hypocritical because they are told to prove themselves good Americans by fighting in the American war yet they are not treated like other Americans ("Relocation and Incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II," 2018). Ichiro is not only discriminated by the white American but also by the fellow Japanese America who view him and his fellow no-no boy as people not worthy of their attention and time. After being released from prison, Ichiro meets Eto, a friend who had served in the army; he despises him after realizing Ichiro is a no-no boy. Eto views himself as a superior Japanese among the marginalized community of Japanese, threatening to take for himself the best jobs as a reward for serving in the army.

Religious discrimination is also explored in the book: Ichiro and his friend talk of religious discrimination in a church in Idaho where they were chased away for being Japanese. They later joined another church while working in a farm where they were warmly welcomed, after a few services in the church they realize the church discriminated against an old black man hence had to quit the church. Religious discrimination was cited as a way of purifying the ways of life by avoiding foreign influence (Okada, 2014).

Discrimination amongst the immigrants and non-citizen to earn the trust and love of the white is also explored in the book. Ichiro recalled walking in the streets and heard one African American man tell a Japanese to go back to Tokyo. Also, there was a growing hatred amongst the Asian group as they tried to be the best amongst the group. The book record one Chinese telling Japanese that "one jap is enough" (Okada, 2014). The intensified discrimination and hatred amongst the Asian denied them a chance to fight as a united front against discrimination and racial segregation.

Since America was fighting the war on three fronts, the Japan, Germany and Italian front, it was very discriminatory of the government only to use the japans in the war only. The government created propaganda that Japan had won the war and America was only fighting the Italians and the German hence the need to use Japanese men in war. The government did not evacuate the German and the Italian citizens living in America. They only viewed the Japanese American citizen as a threat.

Being born in a country in which the parents are not citizen posses a question of self-identity. Ichiro wishes to identify himself with America, but his upbringing in a segregated neighbor denies him the chance to own the feeling of citizenship and loyalty. Ichiro's mother is a barrier to the boy's journey of self-awareness as she denies him the chance to blend with the other kids (Schulz, 2018). When the time comes for the loyalty of the by to be tested, he fails. He later blames her mother for her stubborn Japanese heritage which he imposed on. This instance

As the author concludes his book, the protagonist can find his identity as a person and a dedicated Citizen, identify his mistakes and raise his hope for a better future with no discrimination and racial segregation. Write through the character wishes for a life where there is less division among groups of either the same race of different races, discrimination and prejudice does not prevail and people live in harmony in spite of the skin color. Ichiro gets a job offer from an Engineer in Portland, although he declines the offer, he was to gets paid more than some of the white. This is an indicator that times had changed when one was paid depending on your status in the community or race you belong to. The author feels there is hope for a better future (Sievers, & Vlasta, 2018).

On February 1942, the president of America announced the forceful settlement of all American of Japanese ancestry into concentration camps. This order changed the lives of many Japanese including Ichiro, a young boy having internal fights of self-discovery. People relocated to the camps had worst living conditions and lifestyle (Harjani, 2008). They lose their wealth, homes, business and also their freedom. Some were forced to join the army, and those who refuse are taken to prison. Racism was used as a tool of war by the Americans who wanted to show their superiority while depicting Japanese as uncivilized and barbaric.

Conclusion

The book "No-No Boy" reflects the misery and suffering undergone by immigrants and first descendants of the immigrants during and after the world war. Racial discrimination, racial violence, religious discrimination, and ethnicity were some of the experiences that the immigrants had to go through. The book provides a glimpse of hope and reflects the current America which fights against racism. The protagonist was at the end of the book able to find his national identity.

References

Delgado, F. (2018). Neither Japanese Nor American: Identity and Citizenship in John Okada's No-No Boy << Trespassing Journal. Retrieved from http://trespassingjournal.org/?page_id=149

Harjani, E. (2008). Japanese American identity as seen in Monica Sones Nisei Daughter and John Okadas No No Boy. [Yogyakarta] : Universitas Gadjah Mada.

Okada, J. (2014). No-no boy. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Relocation and Incarceration of Japanese Americans During World War II. (2018). Retrieved from https://calisphere.org/exhibitions/essay/8/relocation/

Schulz, A. (2018). A short insight into the conflicts in John Okada's No-No Boy. Retrieved from http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2010/10/20/no-no-boy/

Sievers, W., & Vlasta, S. (2018). Immigrant and ethnic-minority writers since 1945: Fourteen national contexts in Europe and beyond. Leiden ; Boston : Brill / Rodopi