Taking place post-World War II, John’s Okada’s No-no Boy draws on tensions that the dominant white culture feels due to an influx of non-white peoples to the United States. He uses these tensions to create a narrative of the painstaking experience of acclimating oneself to a culture quite different from his or her own. The journey to assimilation is portrayed uniquely by Okada as he writes his character in ways different from other writers of whom are portraying Asian Americans at this time. In an article, written by Mr. Stan Yogi, ‘You had to be One or the Other: Oppositions and Reconciliation in John Okada’s No-no Boy,’ it is stated that Asian Americans are often portrayed as ‘docile, patient’ peoples. Many of Okada’s characters do not feature
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A most plain example of subversiveness shown in No-no Boy is at the very start of the story; Ichiro unexpectedly runs into a pre-war friend named Eto. Eto is an Issei, and therefore a generation older than Ichiro, who is a Nisei. When Eto is speaking with Ichiro, he becomes angry after learning that Ichiro did not serve in the war like he did and starts to declare some pretty nasty words. Eto also spits on Ichiro and this harsh action demonstrated by Eto is explained in author Francisco Delgado’s text, ‘Neither Japanese or American: Identity and Citizenship in John Okada’s No-no Boy’. He writes that the non-white veterans of World War II “craved overdue recognition as fellow Americans that they felt they earned in the war. But their wartime efforts, they soon realized, mattered little in post-war society, and because of this, [...] adopted hatred toward their own in yet another attempt to earn acknowledgment as fellow Americans” (51). Okada writes that Eto states, “‘Rotten bastard. Shit on you.’ Eto coughed up a mouthful of sputum and rolled his words around it: ‘Rotten, no-good bastard. [...] I’ll piss on you next time’” (5-6). Eto’s actions and words most definitely do not fit the complacent image that many Asian or Asian American characters would usually be assigned to. Through Eto, who is utterly frustrated with his position in society, it becomes …show more content…
Kenji suggests for Ichiro to act in, what are considered, because of the era that this story takes place, some fairly progressive ways. In the 1950’s and most of the 1960’s, interracial marriage was not accepted by the mass of the United States population. When Kenji says to Ichiro, “Go someplace where there isn’t another Jap within a thousand miles. Marry a white girl or a Negro or an Italian or even a Chinese. Anything but a Japanese” (Okada 147), this suggestion is one of rebellion against the government and even betterment. Kenji feels as though if Ichiro is able to legally extricate himself from the Japanese community, and join with a person who is not of Japanese descent, then he will also free himself from the harsh social treatment thrust upon those who are Japanese. The fact that Kenji says to ‘marry’ someone is an important part of this dialogue. The closest this story gets to a marriage, a coming together of two people, though of the same race and ethnicity, is when Ichiro and Emi have sex. Emi being Japanese, Ichiro is not directly rebelling against society forced oppression on him. Upon closer examination of this merging of two people, it becomes clear that this is a form of rebellion and of subversiveness, instead of submissiveness. In No-no Boy, Emi is described as having “slender, with heavy breasts, [...] and her long legs were strong and shapely like a white woman’s”
A most plain example of subversiveness shown in No-no Boy is at the very start of the story; Ichiro unexpectedly runs into a pre-war friend named Eto. Eto is an Issei, and therefore a generation older than Ichiro, who is a Nisei. When Eto is speaking with Ichiro, he becomes angry after learning that Ichiro did not serve in the war like he did and starts to declare some pretty nasty words. Eto also spits on Ichiro and this harsh action demonstrated by Eto is explained in author Francisco Delgado’s text, ‘Neither Japanese or American: Identity and Citizenship in John Okada’s No-no Boy’. He writes that the non-white veterans of World War II “craved overdue recognition as fellow Americans that they felt they earned in the war. But their wartime efforts, they soon realized, mattered little in post-war society, and because of this, [...] adopted hatred toward their own in yet another attempt to earn acknowledgment as fellow Americans” (51). Okada writes that Eto states, “‘Rotten bastard. Shit on you.’ Eto coughed up a mouthful of sputum and rolled his words around it: ‘Rotten, no-good bastard. [...] I’ll piss on you next time’” (5-6). Eto’s actions and words most definitely do not fit the complacent image that many Asian or Asian American characters would usually be assigned to. Through Eto, who is utterly frustrated with his position in society, it becomes …show more content…
Kenji suggests for Ichiro to act in, what are considered, because of the era that this story takes place, some fairly progressive ways. In the 1950’s and most of the 1960’s, interracial marriage was not accepted by the mass of the United States population. When Kenji says to Ichiro, “Go someplace where there isn’t another Jap within a thousand miles. Marry a white girl or a Negro or an Italian or even a Chinese. Anything but a Japanese” (Okada 147), this suggestion is one of rebellion against the government and even betterment. Kenji feels as though if Ichiro is able to legally extricate himself from the Japanese community, and join with a person who is not of Japanese descent, then he will also free himself from the harsh social treatment thrust upon those who are Japanese. The fact that Kenji says to ‘marry’ someone is an important part of this dialogue. The closest this story gets to a marriage, a coming together of two people, though of the same race and ethnicity, is when Ichiro and Emi have sex. Emi being Japanese, Ichiro is not directly rebelling against society forced oppression on him. Upon closer examination of this merging of two people, it becomes clear that this is a form of rebellion and of subversiveness, instead of submissiveness. In No-no Boy, Emi is described as having “slender, with heavy breasts, [...] and her long legs were strong and shapely like a white woman’s”