Why The Korean Struggle In Linda Sue Park's When My Name Is Keoko

“I won’t do it!’ he shouts!” The book When my name was Keoko by Linda sue Park revolves around the Korean struggle after the year 1910 when the Japanese conquered Korea and made them express language only in Japanese. Afterward, in 1940 the Koreans were involuntarily forced to adopt Japanese names in place of their Korean names, anyone who would refuse would be arrested. Next, a theme is even if someone took away your freedom or your name, your soul and thoughts remain to yourself. “No matter how many times I say it, I can’t get used to it. It feels all wrong, like shoes that don’t fit.” No doubt, even though they knew that everyone would address them by their temporary names, nobody could understand how to listen to the sound of their temporary names or the fake definitions of themselves. “They may have 5, but they may not have my thoughts” Clearly, even though the Japanese have forced everyone to only express language in Japanese, this person only wanted to …show more content…
In chapter 13 on page 70 it says “A tiny voice in my head said, you were right! Aren’t you glad you didn’t go to Tae-yul first?” Beforehand, this quote shows how confident she was that she was correct and had performed the right action. However, later in the book it is revealed that the warning she received and jumped to go warn Uncle was not about him being in danger but about the Japanese taking all of metal. Later, in chapter 17 on page 87 it states “After Uncle left, I couldn’t trust myself to speak.” Clearly, Sun-hee is not only depressed that she misunderstood the message, but she was also scared that it was her fault and that if she was able to decode the warning correctly Uncle would not be in hiding or the Japanese aware of his true intentions. In the end, Sun-hee failed and became more