Compare and Contrast Clay Walls and No No Boy
... assume the role of the provider of the family and a sacrificing mother. This is largely evident in the beginning of the last installment narrated by Faye as these social and economics burden began to challenge Haesu’s principles. In Chong 3 yangban culture, women do not work for money but Haesu compromises to work in order to financially support the family in the time of desperation, while holding true to one of her yangban principles: “No. I can only work at home. That’s easy work for me. You try me. I’ll take some home and when I bring back, you decide… I can’t come to work here” (C.W. 193). The death of Chun left Haesu assume the responsibility as the head household while keeping her principles alive. It is also evident that Haesu’s principles and pride of being a yangban caused external conflicts with her children, especially Faye. Faye, who identify herself with the less rigid code of gender by the Western surroundings struggles against her mother because she is essentially being molded into a yangban. It is why Haesu sewed endlessly at the dinner table, at the court hearing when John was summoned, and resumed sewing shortly after Chun’s funeral. Faye was a valued property and possession in her mother’s eyes and Haesu refused let Faye work. "I need extra money to buy clothes. I can work, get a part-time job, or help you sew" (C.W. 231). Faye cannot realize the meaning of her mother’s sacrifice. "Never. If necessary, I'll stay up all night to give you what you want" (C.W. 231). There was one condition, however, when Faye was allowed to work in the American military. But because Haesu had a strong sense of nationalism to Korea, she saw it as an opportunity for Korea to regain her independence from Japan. During the financial desperation, the children never understood the meaning of being a yangban. Again, these principles of being a yangban caused friction in the family when Haesu refused to sell her land in Qwaksan, Korea after Chun’s death. Near the ending of the story, we finally realize the significant value the land has to Haesu; during her living in America as a perpetual foreigner, she looked forward to returning to the land she had purchased, which is Chong 4 essentially tied to her identity. It was the large land itself that would be the foundation of her house with clay walls. It was the land itself that would give meaning to her yangban identity. After the ending of World War II and the Korean War, a multilateral agreement was reached that divided Korea into two countries. Her land Qwaksan was in the northern Korea. She loses the land and ultimately, her identity. We now shift our attention to the protagonist of John Okada’s No No Boy, which focuses on the theme of assimilation versus Japanese loyalty. Ichiro was a Japanese American college student who was born and raised in Seattle, having the only identity he knew of in the Western world, despite the fact his parents are from Japan. In this respect, John Okada’s No No Boy is unique because he explored the conflicts and the incompatibility of both the Japanese and American cultures. John Okada also explored the meaning of being a non-American, making the reader experience racial discrimination and rejection from the society. In Ichiro’s case, he was neither welcomed by the Japanese-American or American communities because he was a no-no boy. Prior to the Japanese encampment during World War II, Ichiro had a sense of belonging to the life he once knew before being sent to prison for two years. During his imprisonment, the community Ichiro was accustomed to underwent major changes; the majority of Americans began to hate the Japanese and the Japanese Americans who fought in the war also began to hate the Japanese-Americans who refused to participate. Unlike Haesu, Ichiro’s identity was already lost when the story began and unlike Haesu who lost her identity at the end of the story, Ichiro begins to regain what he had already lost. The life he knew of prior to being imprisoned had already deteriorated as the result of the world war. It has become dirty and unrecognizable: Chong 5 " He walked toward the railroad depot where the tower with the clocks on all four sides was. It was a dirty looking tower of ancient brick. It was a dirty city. Dirtier certainly, than it had a right to be after only 4 years (N.N.B. 1).” Like Haesu in Clay Walls, the community that Ichiro knew underwent dramatic changes. He was no longer able to able to relate to his former community because it has changed and he had already lost his identity. The struggle to rediscover his identity was not only external with the two communities that rejected him, but it was also an internal conflict that Ichiro faced as he tries to wrestle the meaning of being an American. He was not welcome in neither the Japanese-American community and American societies. Unlike Haesu who was able to draw strength from yangbanism, the difficulty for Ichiro in his attempt to discover his identity after the war presented an obstacle; he had no ideals or values to draw upon on. He had rejected most of the Japanese ways that were instilled into him by his parents and also rejected the American values had him imprisoned and stripped of his rights. Ichiro, unlike many other no-no boys, does not passively accept the American system. He began to question his refusal to be drafted and what the outcome would be if he had agreed to be drafted. An integral part of the story, John Okada introduces Kenji, Ichiro’s friend who served in the military. The role of Kenji provided Ichiro A glimpse of the outcome if he had agreed to be drafted for military service: “I’ll change with you, Kenji, he thought. Give me the stump which gives you the right to hold your head high. Give me the eleven inches which are beginning to hurt again and bring ever close the fear of approaching death… you can put your one good foot in the dirt of America and know that the wet coolness of it is yours beyond a single doubt” (N.N.B. 64). Chong 6 It is the desperation of wanting to belong in either society that is evident in Ichiro’s struggle to find an identity. But ironically, the end of the story made Ichiro have second thoughts about changing places with Kenji. It was Bull, after the fight with Freddie, who begins to struggle with his identity that was lost from the effects of the war. Bull was now struggling with himself to figure out who he is. Perhaps the climax of the story was realized when Mr. Carrick offered a job to Ichiro in Portland. The fact that Ichiro refused a job that would have given him an opportunity for a fresh start in Portland is not to be a small disappointment to the reader, but it provided the reader and Ichiro an understanding about the importance of returning back to one’s roots where he had been born and rai...