So says Ken Kanno, an old friend of Ichiro's that Ichiro runs into on his way out of the University. Kenji is Ichiro's double in the novel: the same age; just as aimless; and questioning his actions constantly. He also is a war hero, one who "had every right to laugh and love and hope" (63). And he is dying as his amputated leg rots away what's left of its stump. "Am I a hero?" he asks Ichiro (60). And he then asks Ichiro if he would trade fifty years of life for two years of being a war hero. And Ichiro says he would.
One of the hardest parts of this book is figuring exactly what position John Okada takes on what he is presenting. Are we supposed to agree with Ken that he is not a hero? Are we supposed to agree with Ichiro that he doesn't deserve to be accepted by America, a country he feels he has betrayed? Did Bob Kumasaka really die bravely, pinged by a random sniper? Are "homes and cars and money" (34) lost really worth the price of citizenship? What Okada does do clearly (and brilliantly in my opinion) is paint a picture of a community in agony; and if the streets Ichiro walks in Seattle "are part of the city which is part of the state and the country and the nation that is America" (34), then Okada is portraying in some great sense a country in agony.
1. What scene or moment in Chapter 3 struck you particularly? And why? Quote in your response.
2. What I wanted to ask today, for it is the question the novel forces us to ask. What would you have done in Ichiro's place when he faces the judge in Chapter 1? Would you have refused to fight as Ichiro and the others did? Or would you have done what Bob and a thousand others did, including Ken, and gone to war? And why?
3. A text-oriented question: Ichiro goes to visit his old Engineering professor, Baxter Brown, and what follows is an uncomfortable reunion. At the end of it, Ichiro thinks, "That wasn't the way I wanted it to happen. What happened? He was nice enough. Shook hands, talked, smiled. Still, it was all wrong...Was it him or was it me? Him or me? He or I? Brown or Itchy? It wasn't Brown, of course...No, Brown is still Brown. It is I who reduces conversation to the inconsequential" (57). Is Ichiro—Itchy—correct here? Why or why not?
There might be a short quiz in class tomorrow, so be sure to do your reading. See you all then.
1. The part that struck me most in chapter 3 was when Ichiro walks into the kitchen and his brother is playing cards and his father is watching his brother play cards sadly and how just depressing this scene is, especially once we find out it is Taro’s birthday, “Taro was playing solitaire at the kitchen table, his hands mechanically flipping and shifting the cards as if he found no enjoyment in the game. The father sat opposite his younger son, with a kind of helpless sadness….Ichiro tried again: ‘What’s going on?’ ‘Birthday party,’ said Taro, looking up with a wry grin. ‘You gonna sing for me too?’ ‘I might’ ‘Sure, you can get your buddies from the pen and do it right. You can sing me happy birthday in Japanese. I’d go for that’” (65-66). This moment of hatred passed between Ichiro and Taro just strikes me as the difference between being “American” and being “Japanese” as Ichiro sees it.
ReplyDelete2. I was thinking about that question all throughout class today, and I still am not sure of what I would have done. I probably would have gone into the army, just to make it easier on myself. I would just hope and pray that I wouldn’t be sent to actually fight for long if at all. I would go for as long as I needed to be there according to whoever says so, and I would leave as fast as I could. I would rather go to the army and fight for a country that needs me to prove myself and then prove myself, than be completely rejected by that country and its inhabitants. That isn’t to say I judge the people who would not go into the army. I totally could see myself doing that too, but for me, I just wouldn’t want people to treat me the way people treat Ichiro in this book when they find out he’s a “No-No boy”.
3. For me, I thought that Brown honestly didn’t remember Ichiro or care enough about him to be sincere with him. It felt very fake, forced and just not honest on Brown’s part. I felt as though he didn’t want to have Ichiro back but felt as though he had no choice otherwise, perhaps because he might be construed as a racist, but in that moment he wouldn’t have actually been thought of that way because of how discriminatory the government as a whole was being. I felt that the diminishing conversation was not Ichiro’s fault, but Brown’s fault.
1. The scene where Kanno described his leg in full detail definitely stuck out to me the most. The idea of having to have ones leg cut off, inch by inch, multiple times is absolutely terrifying. It is interesting to me that Ichiro would want to be a war hero and suffer this fate than to chose to go to prison and take the "cowardly" route. This quote really struck me as well: "But a leg that was eating itself away until it would consume the man himself in a matter of a few years was something else, for hobbling toward death on a cane and one good leg seemed far more disastrous than having both legs and an emptiness that might conceivably still be filled" (63-64). I feel just as confused as Ichiro on this matter. I am really not sure what is the right thing to do and what is the wrong thing to do, which makes this book quite intriguing.
ReplyDelete2. I would probably go into the army. I would want to serve a cause and help my country and be brave. If I was in Ichiro's place, I think that enlisting would be the right thing to do. However I agree with the one man who stood in front of the judge and say he could not go to the army because his brother is in the Japanese army and he could shoot his own brother. I think that for me personally, enlisting would be the best idea, but I am not sure that is what is right for everybody. I think that Ichiro should have enlisted even though it would upset his family. I think it is the wisest choice because it would also change the way he is treated in the U.S.
3. I think that Brown frankly does not give two shits about Ichiro. Through out their conversation he used terms like "you people" and completely lumped all Japanese together. He wasn't looking at Ichiro as a person but rather as an entire group. I disagree with Ichiro and think that this is definitely Brown's fault. He completely dismissed Ichiro by appearing super fake and nice while underneath he really didn't say anything nice at all to Ichiro. I agree with Molly in that I don't think Brown even remembered who Ichiro was at all.
1. The moment that stuck out to me the most was when Kenji told Ichiro about his leg. “I went back into the hospital and it turned out that there’s something rotten in my leg that’s eating it away. So the cut off a little more and gave me a new leg. As you’ve probably guessed by now, it wasn’t long before I was back in and they whacked off another chunk”(62). The very idea that Kenji is just waiting around for his leg to get eaten away is frightening. It also brings up the question of who made the right choice. Interestingly, it seems that Ichiro believes Kenji still has the better deal. “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…”(64). Ichiro is so miserable that he’s telling himself he’d rather have two years and one leg left than the shame and displacement he feels now.
ReplyDelete2. I honestly don’t think that either path is morally superior. The war was obviously a good cause, and to fight in it would have been admirable. However, I can completely understand not wanting to go risk your life just to prove that you belong in some country that doesn’t seem to want you. In Ichiro’s position I suppose I would have gone to war. I wouldn’t really want to go to war under any circumstances, but it seems that Ichiro’s imprisonment has done more harm than the war could have. Ichiro has been let out at the same time as all of the people who chose to go into the army. However, they’re in extremely different situations. Ichiro doesn’t seem to have any prospects. At least, that’s the way he feels. Most of the people who aren’t completely disgusted with him are those who he has no respect for. Instead of feeling honored and ready to slip back into the life he used to enjoy, he just feels lost.
3. I agree with Christine and Molly that Ichiro was not at fault in this conversation. Brown didn’t even remember his name. That in and of itself is no crime; teachers have a lot of names to remember. However, he pretends to remember and care about Ichiro while giving him no real opportunity to speak. I’m not sure what exactly their relationship was before he left, but Ichiro was clearly expecting to regain some old connection. Maybe Brown is just a flustered old man, but his dismissive nature really just unsettled Ichiro even more.
1. definitely when Ichiro was talking to the amputee. The situation he is in sounds horrible (the amputee), but strangely enough, Ichiro says that he would rather be in his position than his own. To Ichiro, the constant pain and guilt of being a No-no boy is so great, that he would rather die in a matter of two years than take on his current guilt. As he said, "I am living in a shell". It is quite amazing how devastated he is about not having joined the army. The whole scene really put in perspective just how much Ichiro is suffering.
ReplyDelete2. In all honesty, both actions would be horrible to undertake. On one side, choosing yes-yes, I'd be betraying both my mother and the country from which my family comes. I would devastate my family and I would lose the part of me that belongs to them. However, if i chose no-no, i'd be ostracized from the very place that I lived, the only place that I would know to call home. For me, given those two sides, I would probably pick the side of my mother. I could always switch nations in which I live, but a mother is irreplaceable, and so is a family. However, as we see in the case of ichiro, leaving the country isn't really an option. For him, he must stay in the country he lives in. In such a situation, i think that I would choose to be a yes-yes boy, because the suffering of living with constant guilt would be just too much. I would find a wife and make a new family and just try to move on. BUT OVERALL THERE IS NO GOOD DECISION. ICHIRO IS IN A WORLD OF SHIT.
3. It went wrong because professor brown asked the wrong question and had the wrong ideas about Ichiro. Brown was happy because he thought Ichiro had fought in the war, but ichiro had not. This misunderstanding is too much for Ichiro, as he is not able to tell Brown the truth. because of this, Ichiro cannot be close to Brown is instead distanced from him. From this scene, we see that for ichiro, have a close relationship with an American has become so much harder, as he has in many senses betrayed them, and the guilt is too deep to cope with. This is just one aspect of the torture he has to succumb to.
The scene that really resonated with me from Chapter Three was, as Molly has said, the scene between Taro and the rest of the family. But what really stuck with me in this scene was not when he was playing solitaire, but when he actually left and the moment of recognition and realization between Ichiro and Taro as to why it truly was that Taro had to leave and the position Ichiro had put him in. "He stood and looked down at Ichiro, wanting to speak but not finding the words in himself to tell his brother that he had to go in the army because of his brother whose weakness made it impossible for him to do otherwise." (67). In this moment I think some of the confusion that weighs Ichiro down so much thus far in the book is taken away, as he finally understands the hatred that his brother has towards him, and he somewhat understands his position a little better as well as his brother's position in this society that is so torn for the two. I think he's almost relieved by what happened, as he goes on to say that he felt a heaviness leaving his shoulders, solely because it's all clear to him now why his brother is doing what he is, and it's because Ichiro has put him in this position where he really cannot do otherwise without discarding the American side of his life, as Ichiro did and is now regretting.
ReplyDeleteI think in general, the novel makes a point to say that there really is no right answer to this question. We see Ichiro, we see Freddie, who choose not to fight and afterwards feel they made the absolute wrong decision and their lives are over. And then on the other hand, we see characters like Ken and Bob, who choose to fight and really do come out of it much worse than they went in (if they come out at all, as Bob is dead). But for me personally, I think that if I was born in America and raised in America as Ichiro has been, I would have to choose to fight. Certainly the situation is not ideal, a draft is not really looked at by any Americans as a good thing. But if the alternative was going to jail and clearly stating that you associate more with the Japanese and your Japanese heritage than the Americans and America, a culture and life you grew up with, as it is here, I would have to take the best of the worst and choose to fight. As far as the Japanese culture and lifestyle being enforced onto me throughout my entire life up to that point, I would have to present the argument that if the Japanese culture is so much more important and you want me to associate
more with a Japan I have never even been to, why are we here in America in the first place?
Honestly I didn't see the reunion as that big of a deal, and I think that Ichiro in his head made it out to be much more meaningful than it actually turned out to be. I think that to Brown, Ichiro was just another student that he had taught at one point, and when it comes down to it that's really all Ichiro ever was. So I would not say that it's Brown's fault here, but Ichiro's for making something and expecting so much from nothing, from something that really shouldn't be anything in the first place. Ichiro is becoming desperate at this point, and he's turning wherever he can to find some sort of answer to his confusion and his state of mind and his questions pertaining to America versus Japan. And I think that with some old teacher of his is not where he's going to find this peace.
1. The way that Taro just packed and left, heedless to the emotion of his family, was very striking. The connection that he holds to his parents “doesn’t matter” (67) to him, and he casts off those who have raised him. He puts himself into the position of his brother, where he may either live in submission to their mother or join the army. But unlike his brother, Taro has more choices, which he fails to see. His noncompletion of high school only closes off more paths, and it seems like the only reason he went off to join the army was to defy his family, which is a pretty stupid reason to join the army, while he has all these other options open to him.
ReplyDelete2. Before the judge, I would have chosen to go to war. I was born here, raised here, and have lived in the United States my entire life. I would have no reason to fight for some country that I have no connection to, and all the reason to fight for this country. I can’t relate to the pressure Ichiro faces from his mother, so I cannot say what I would do in his specific position. But, faced with the decision of either going to war or going to jail, and with no other choice in hand, I would go to war. The people who refuse to go to war owe, if not their entire lives, something to the land in which they have lived in, and time is better spent fighting for a cause that holds reason rather than spending the time sitting in a jail cell for no reason, other than defiance and assertion of principle.
3. Ichiro is inconsequential to Brown. Brown doesn’t remember him (though he pretends to), and doesn’t have any reason to remember him. What Ichiro thought of as a meaningful reunion with an old professor, Brown likely thought of as an everyday formality. The meeting holds no significance for Brown, as I am assuming Ichiro was a student out of many, because Ichiro is not as important to him as he is important to Ichiro. Ichiro is taking the situation too personally, as he takes much of his life.
1. I was really interested by Ichiro's conversation with Professor Brown. It is unclear what Ichiro wanted to get out of the conversation. I think he was hoping that Brown would reassure him of his decision to be a no-no boy. But instead, Ichiro can't admit that he didn't go into service, and even lies about it. I thought it was interesting because he put himself in a situation where the war would obviously come up, but he couldn't figure out what to say. Ichiro is clearly resentful and angry about his situation in his thoughts, but to Brown he is passive: "Water under the bridge now" (55). Ichiro doesn't know what to think or what is right or wrong anymore.
ReplyDelete2. I was also thinking about this in class today, and I found it really difficult to grapple with. Ichiro identifies as an American, but he couldn't bring himself to fight against his ancestry. I thought about how painful it would be if I had to tell my grandparents that I was going to fight against Poland or Russia, even though I whole-heartedly identify as American. I'm not sure I would be able to do it. I think Okada is trying to point out how terrible and painful the situation is, regardless of the decision one makes.
3. I think that Brown was conducting the conversation, without really giving Ichiro a chance to say what he came in for. This makes me think that Brown didn't care what Ichiro had to say at all really. Brown was just making assumptions about Ichiro without letting speak for himself. Still, Ichiro came in unexpectedly, and Brown is not his therapist. I'm not trying to say that Brown should have sat there and let Ichiro cry on his shoulder, but he seemed a little too dismissive to me.
(I was not able to get the book yet, however I will get it tomorrow, therefor I cannot answer 1 and 3)
ReplyDelete2. I have extreme moral issues with both decisions. Off hand I would say I would fight, but could I fight? Could I live with myself if I killed someone? Could I commit atrocities and justify them later as "doing what was necessary"? I do not believe I could fight and come out of it a whole, sane person. Yet on the other hand, should I choose not to fight, what would it like being in prison? Would I end up like Ichiro, constantly second guessing my choice, having the doubt eating away at me day n and day out? I believe I would feel like I failed the country that gave me so much. This dilema so many had to face has no good option. One would have to choose between warped patriotism and treason, between murder and loss of rights. Ultimately, I think I would choose war over proson.
I was left pondering as to why Okada dwelled on the description of the staircase leading up to the professors office. It reminded me of the temples in Angkor Wat where the stairs are shallow to that you are force to bend to the gods as you climb higher. Although this passage seemed rather insignificant it brought in a sort of religious aspect. It almost seems like he has lost his sense of faith in god and himself. To Ichiro the university was sort of a place of worship, and since feels like he has betrayed it.
ReplyDeleteTo a certain extent the nationality crisis that Ichiro faces is similar to my situation. If i were put in a position where I had to choose one over the other it would be like being torn apart pants ripping on barbed wire. The question isn't necessarily one of patriotism but more so weighing the worst case scenarios. Living with the fact that you have compromised your own integrity and feel dead on the inside is one thing, but living with the imminent fear of death is a whole other story. Although, it seems to Ichiro that he would rather die for a life worth living than live as is he's dead. Personally, as deep of a rut as Ichiro is in, I would rather that than have lost my life fighting my long lost relatives and a culture that I have been brought up in. Mental trauma goes away with time. It never completely disappears, but i lessens and you are given another chance. With physical trauma there is no return. Your body and your health is the most precious thing regardless of race or of past. The hardest part would be Ichiro's mother. There is no escaping the wrath of a mother. It is a feat in itself to be able to remove yourself from the person that planted every idea in your mind. Simply because of that I feel like I can't blame Ichiro.
Ichiro is one of many students. He had deified Brown because of the old life he represented, and when Brown didn't recognize him, he realized that he was inconsequential in the life of a man who apparently had a great influence on him. Ichiro feels like he changed and that now he is no longer worthy of the life that the professor and the university gave him. Also, Brown is removed from the war to a certain extent so he is unable to be as personal with Ichiro. Ichiro definitely picks up on this, and now feels like he is the enemy, he is the other side.
1. The line that stood out to me was when Ichiro was talking about his desire to be accepted into his new country: “in time there will again be a place for me. I will buy a home and love my family and I will walk down the street holding my son’s hand...it will not matter about the past, for time will have erased it from our memories and there will be only joy and sorrow and sickness, which is the way things should be.” (52) At this moment, the only Ichiro is certain he wants is acceptance and validation in a country that has rejected him and punished him, and I think that says something about how much power our country can have on somebody. Even after knocking somebody down and reducing them to nothing, they still have an extreme desire to belong and be a part of it. It’s a scary sort of power that I think might be abused in this situation. They take away everything from a portion of the population and then proceed to ask so much from them, ask for their lives and their strength, despite the fact they have no grounds to do so. Ichiro is lost and is not sure where to go with his life, but he knows for sure that he wants to belong to a place that has done nothing but reject him.
ReplyDelete2. I think what Ichiro was extremely brave and I don’t think I would have the power to refuse service like that. While my life would be in danger and death is pretty certain, I think that saying yes would be the easier option. It would be easier for me just to align with the all-powerful country and not actually think about where I stand morally and where I believe in the war to begin with. I also don’t think I could deal with the alienation that comes with saying no, and I think Ichiro is very brave for standing up for something different than the norm, and it’s hard to read as he doubts his decision by thinking it was foolish and impulsive.
3. While Brown is “still Brown” as Ichiro says, Ichiro has changed and is in a place that Brown can’t even begin understand, and I think Brown is the one who reduces their conversation to something trivial because he’s too quick to assume that Ichiro fought in the war and I think if Brown tried harder, he could have realized what has actually happened to Ichiro. Maybe it isn’t Brown’s responsibility to figure that out, but I think he owed in Ichiro in that moment to try to understand what was going on.
1.When Ichiro returned to the grocery store, and found his brother playing cards, his brother told him he was going to war. His brother lashes out and says, "You can sing me happy birthday in Japanese, I'd go for that.' The blood rushed to his face and it was with considerable difficulty that he kept himself from swinging at his brother. 'You hate me that much?'
ReplyDelete'I don't know you'"(66). His brother has rejected him from his life, and is going off to war against his own will but feeling like he must in order to balance out the horrible wrong he feels Ichiro committed. Not only is he rejected by his brother, but that moment really struck home for Ichiro, and hurt him the most. He feels responsible for his brothers decision, and his indirect death, if it comes.
2.I would have gone to war. The book obviously sets up the question as a lose-lose situation on both sides; say yes and you face a bullet in the head like Bob, or say no and become shutout from the country you call your home. I would choose war because that american feeling, is the last thing a person can have, even after they take away your possessions. If you deny your own self of that, there is nothing left.
3. I think Ichiro is uncomfortable with his own life, and has to tread carefully wherever he may go so he does not give away any shameful information of his past. This paranoia, consumes him and leaves him speechless like he is with Mr. Brown. Brown gives off the american die hard attitude, and this makes Ichiro even more uncomfortable with his no-no decision. His fear of Brown disapproving him kept him from saying what he wanted to
1. The scene with Kenji really stuck out to me. Mainly because I think this is the first really good conversation we see. Kenji and Ichiro, two people who chose different paths, are wishing that they had chosen the other’s path. “What I mean is, I’ve got eleven inches to go and you’ve got fifty years, maybe sixty. Which would you rather have?” I found it very interesting that Kenji and Ichiro are wanting to switch places. But I also enjoyed that they did not hate each other for their actions.
ReplyDelete2. I am not totally sure what I would do, but I think that I would choose to go to the army. Yes, I accept and embrace my own heritage, but right now, I live in America. I also think that there are no really “right” answers, because it is your choice. But, there are a lot of factors. For example, say South Korea went to war with the United States, and the situation was the same in terms of South Korean’s being concentrated. It would depend on what I felt was right. For example, in who started the war, things like that. But if I were in Ichiro’s position of being Japanese and having to choose to fight against Japan, I would. Because, I would feel that Japan was wrong, and also that in order to prove myself to people, I have to do this.
3. I agree with a lot of people, mainly Sohail and Christine and Molly, that Ichiro really isn’t at fault during this conversation. For one, like Sohail mentioned, he didn’t even remember his name. He was just trying to blindly hit the target with a last name like Suzuki. He really doesn’t care about Ichiro, but he pretends to care about his future, about his wellbeing at the school, lumping him and “[his] people” together. All he does is talk, and keep talking, not allowing Ichiro to state how he feels and what he wants, making Ichiro feel inconsequential. I think Brown was at fault.
1. The scene that really connected with me was the very beginning when Ichiro is riding the bus strolling through his memories. He realizes that he has rode the bus before in the past when he was a student. The feelings Ichiro express when he is remembering his time at the university stand out in a way that is easy to relate to as a student: "To be a student in America was a wonderful thing. To be a student in America studying engineering was a beautiful life. That, in itself, was worth defending from anyone and anything which dared to threaten it with change or extinction." (53). This passion and love for the work he was doing in a America seems to me stronger than the relationship with his parents and the ties they have to their homeland. More and more I see Ichiro beginning to create stronger ties with America even though he is struggling to be accepted.
ReplyDelete2. I feel that I would have gone to war. If I was in Ichiro's situation being born in America and taught and raised in America I would feel it is my duty. Ichiro is struggling even now to decide which side he is really on. I would want to clear my head and choose a side much earlier than Ichiro's age. I would know before eighteen, Taro certainly did, therefore when the draft came I could enter if needed. The confusion inside Ichiro is a terrible feeling that eats at you over the years. I would not want to put myself in that situation of being torn between two homes. As Ichiro said the education of America make him happy. Why would you turn down the country that gave you that opportunity. Parents can't control you at eighteen. Ichiro had his own decisions. In his place I would have chosen the army.
3. Bloggers before me have used a word that I would use to sum the whole interaction: fake. Both on Mr. Brown's part and Ichrio. Ichiro tells us in this reading later that he is just an empty shell. He looks convincing on the outside but inside he is hollow and cold. Mix that with the way Mr. Brown doesn't give a crap about Ichiro and you get the vague and unpleasant conversation we see here. Mr. Brown is clearly lacking here, but Ichiro makes it clear that he isn't ready to go back into the educated world. He is lacking that crucial piece inside himself that lets him move on and forget or lay to rest some of the terrible memories and fears he has about society. This is what creates this uncomfortable scene between Mr. Brown and Ichiro.
1. The moment that really stuck out to me was when Ichiro was watching his brother play cards and we get to see what Taro is thinking. I was struck by his reasoning for going to war and how hard it is for him to be surrounded by his family. The part “He stood and looked down at Ichiro, wanting to speak but not finding the words in himself to tell his brother that he had to go in the army because of his brother whose weakness made it impossible for him to do otherwise and because he did not understand what is was about his mother that haunted him day and night and pulled his insides into meaningless bits and was slowly destroying him. And it was because of these things and because he was furiously mixed up that he had to cut himself free and spare himself the anguish of his brother which he knew must be there even if he was a stranger to him, and maybe that was still another reason why he was going” (67) is so powerful to me. Normally in times of destruction and war, families come together to try and create a sense of security and calm but the Yamada’s aren’t like that and they refuse to create any security because they don’t see the need to in the first place.
ReplyDelete2. Off hand, I think I’d refuse to go to war. I don’t support the idea of it however I realize that it is inevitable and problems cant be solved the Paideia way. Personally if there was a war between America and Bosnia right now and I was told I had to go fight and pick a side and pledge alligence to a certain country and culture, I wouldn’t be able to do it. I feel like Ichiro in a sense because I struggle with identifying with a certain country. I don’t feel American but I don’t feel Bosnian/German either. So since im unable to identify as either, I’d rather go to jail where I would have to question if the choice I made to try and exterminate the other side was right or wrong.
3. Like most people have said, Brown didn’t care about Ichiro. He didn’t even listen to Ichiro’s responses and he was basically having a conversation with himself. Ichiro is obviously a different person than he was before but I think he was reading into the situation too much. He made himself think that what he was saying was stupid and redundant but we know that Ichiro has opinions and thoughts and that he is intelligent and just because he cant articulate his thoughts doesn’t mean he’s inconsequential to Brown, it just means Brown isn’t the person he can have those conversations with.
1. The scene depicting Ichiro's reunion and ride with Kenji really stuck with me. Here we are presented with two parallels, parallels apparent in two individuals that made two radically different choices. As we have seen from the rest of the book, something is chewing away at Ichiro from the inside, and that is his feeling of inadequacy, of the death of his American dream. Here we see a man that made the opposite choice, and also has something eating away at him, quite literally, in fact. "Which would you rather have?" Kenji questions Ichiro. Here we see the full extent of Ichiro's problem, which is much like Esther's. He cannot function anymore for the depression, for the mental block that prevents him from moving forward from that choice he made two years ago.
ReplyDelete2.
I would have enlisted. While the situation is unfair and violates a fair amount of civil rights, the only practical thing to do would have been, in my point of view, to agree to be drafted. I couldn't have thrown whatever future I had left away out of devotion to a country I had never visited. I would not have gone out of a sense of duty, for how can one feel a sense of obligation to a country that treats you in such a way? The fact of the matter is that it is simply the means to an end: if you survive, you are an "American". The other choice is a smear on your record, a smear that you cannot remove no matter how hard you try.
3.
Brown did not care about Ichiro. Ichiro was simply one of the many faceless students to pass through his office. Ichiro came looking for a glimmer of what he had before, back when his American dream was still strong. Instead he found a professor who simply wanted to get on with his own life and did not feel any obligation to listen to Ichiro. But Ichiro turns Brown's shortcomings back on himself, convinced that everything he has done after that fateful choice, that every problem that has arisen, is his fault, and his alone.
1. It seems that by majority a few scenes have stuck out in people's minds so far. I hate to conform, but honestly the ending scene in which Taro leaves his family to join the army did strike me as the most notable and memorable section of the reading. When Ichiro thinks, "The strength that was the strength of Japan had failed and he had caught the realization of it in the cry and in the words which she had spoken," (68) it seems that we finally see his mother break. She has been forced to follow through on her promise that when her kids went to the American army she would be dead in spirit. It is interesting that so early in the novel we already see Ichiro's mother put in this position. While for the whole novel she has been reveling in the fact that HER sons are Japanese while the families whose sons had gone to war were not japanese. Her basis for identity was based on Ichiro and Taro and now that identity had been overthrown by Taro's decision.
ReplyDelete2. I think I would have gone to war. There is no way for me to answer this question with Ichiro's true perspective, but I believe that my basic fear of jail as a concept would have left me with no choice as to whether or not I would go to war, whether or not my parents insisted I remain loyal to Japan. Additionally I believe that if I had grown up in America, gone to school in America, and was currently living in America my logical decision would be to obey the draft and hope I made it through unscathed.
3. I think my main issue regarding this scene is based on Mr. Brown's blatant generalization of the japanese-American people. His use of the term "you fellows" as well as his struggle to identify Ichiro at the beginning of their interaction frustrated me to no end. No I honestly believe that while Ichiro could've done a better job at making the interaction meaningful Mr. Brown was the key factor in their inability to have a valid conversation. Throughout the interaction Mr. Brown seems removed and disinterested in the reason behind Ichiro's visit, and barely even allows him a word in edgewise. No, Ichiro is in no way entirely to blame for the meaninglessness of the conversation, it is instead a product of Mr. Brown's manner and inappropriate behavior.
“In that brief moment when Taro looked at Ichiro and felt these things which he could not say, Ichiro felt them too and understood.” This moment is a little confusing for me because it seems that the brothers don’t really have a relationship, since they have spent so little time together, yet they do…a silent one. It does however, makes sense that Taro feels the need to prove that at least he is American in his family, since no other family members would.
ReplyDeleteI would probably make the same “mistake” Ichiro has made. If I was seriously faced with the decision I would probably be scared and would think that if I don’t fight that is a way of staying neutral in some way. I’m not sure…However, in the end I would regret having wasted four years sitting by waiting with everyone else, for others to fight for the problems in society.
Ichiro is just confused, and does not know how to act, because he’s not sure what he wants to do with his life now and he seems scared that if he exposes himself completely some might reject him, like Eto. Feeling all the regret he feels seems, in a way, normal considering the fact that he “sat the war out,” but it makes it hard to come back and face and talk to people who chose a different path than he did.
For me, the most powerful moment in the chapter came when Ichiro is riding along with Ken in his modified car, and reveals to him that he didn't fight in the war; he was a no-no boy. The difference here between the reactions of Eto and Ken is a reflection of the different reasons they joined up: "There was a silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Ichiro could tell instantly it didn't matter to Kenji, who drove the Oldsmobile aimlessly through the park because it was as good a place as any" (62). Whereas Eto joined the army because he felt it was the necessary thing to do in order to prove some sort of inherent Americanism, Ken does it more for reasons described as pragmatic, like the ability to regain jobs and businesses lost during the evacuation, to maintain respectability.
ReplyDeleteThis segues nicely into my answer to the second question. I would have probably joined for pragmatic reasons: to fight, hopefully not get killed, and to return to America after the war l, forget about the camps and never talk about it again; to try and shoulder the burden as part of a mistake the government made. But I think that I would have joined rather than be sent to the special camps for the no-no boys or prison.
Firstly, Mr. Brown, like the average college professor, doesn't remember Ichiro at all, and it's quite clear throughout the meeting that he is faking his recollection of him. Secondly, I think Mr. Brown feels somehow obligated to comment on the plight of the Japanese citizens as a sort of salutary measure, even though he doesn't give any indication he really cares about Ichiro and his situation, taking in the whole thing as if he had just woken up from a long nap. And finally, he brushes Ichiro out of his office without giving him any real information about how to get back into the swing of things. The message seems to be "Oh, you were out of the college because you were sent to an internment camp? That's awful, but I'm afraid there's no place for you here."
1. One moment that stuck out to me was when Ichicro is talking about his college life and himself as a young college student in America. "To be a student in America was a wonderful thing... I was happy when I was a student". He uses specific details of his lunch and walking around on his campus. It seems as though Ichiro is living the American Dream as a college student and where I'm personally headed. But as he reminices on his college days, he sees that "being American is a terribly incomplete thing if one's face is not white and one's parents are Japanese of the country Japan which attacked American".
ReplyDelete2. I think this question is very difficult to answer. It goes along with the theme of identity and the struggle and fight to find your true identity. Even though Ichiro was born in America, he's not sure if he can still go and fight against Japan. LIke we said in class, most of us thought that Bob was brave to go to war, but he knew what he believed in and had his certain morals and values. Ichiro obviously has a different perspective. I don't know if Ichicro necessarily lacked the courage or bravery to go to war. I think I would probably go to war instead of prison, but it's difficult to say when you're not in Ichico's position.
3. I think Mr. Brown was a little socially awkward, but he was trying to be polite and friendly. He was trying to make it not awkward by just continuing the conversation, but in a way that just made it more awkward. But I think Ichiro isn't very responsive to Mr. Brown, which makes it seems like Ichiro is making the conversation more inconsequential. He doesn't say a whole lot and doesnt' seem to be engaged or interested in this conversation.
1. The moment that stuck out to me was when Ichiro was talking to Ken about going back to school. Ken asks if it's the same and why he's not going back and Ichiro says, "Well because it's not the same. Or rather, I'm not the same." Ichiro is questioning his decision because he sees all these young men with a new-found purpose in their life and he struggles to find that in his own life. He wants to get back to what he was doing, but instead of finding purpose like the boys who said yes, he seems to have lost purpose.
ReplyDelete2. I have no idea what I would do. It's hard to me to understand saying no-no because I don't feel any connection to a country other than America. And even then I probably wouldn't feel much motivation to fight for my country. Neither answer would reflect how I feel.
3.This is just Ichiro's attempt to find meaning in his experiences. He wants Brown to remember him and for this to be a sweet reunion so that he can feel comfortable and excited about returning to school. However, Brown doesn't remember him because he doesn't have any real reason to and Ichiro is disappointed by this. Ichiro is trying to find purpose and reason anywhere he can.
1) The car ride home with Kenji was easily the most memorable out of last night’s reading. Ichiro is on a quest for acceptance. He can’t find it in Freddie or Dr. Brown or his family or even his own country. He now searches for sympathy. He wants someone to talk to who won’t judge him for the mess that is his mind. Kenji is different to Ichiro because he is injured. Half of his leg has been removed, and more amputations are likely in the future. The two men begin to debate the severity of each of their problems. Despite the physical loss, Ichiro would still trade lives with Kenji, for the simple acceptance that Kenji finds in America. “You can put your good foot in the dirt of America and know that the wet coolness of it is yours without a doubt” (64).
ReplyDelete2) As Sohail said, there is no one true moral path in this situation, but it is a process of balancing the two options and finding the least detrimental. I would have to say that I would go into the army. I don’t feel that Ichiro’s allegiance to Japan is so strong that he would spend two years in jail just to avoid harming it. If Ichiro would have known the deep depression that would stem from this decision, there is no doubt in my mind that he would have chosen to enlist. Becoming a no-no boy wasn’t the honorable act of defiance that Ichiro intended, it made him (and his family) look weak. This is a harsh reality and an incredibly unfair decision to have to make, but it is the reality that Ichiro faces every day.
3) The lack of depth in their conversation wasn’t either of their faults. it was merely the natural tendencies of two people who haven’t met before. Ichiro is suffering and is eager to find something he can call his own. Professor Brown has no way of knowing this and is therefore kind and open to the idea of Ichiro returning to school. Ichiro feels like they are almost discussing the weather, but that comes from Ichiro’s desperate attempts to share his story. However, if Ichiro wanted the conversation to be deeper, it was his fault for not making a move in that direction. Ichiro needs a therapist.
1. Going back to what we talked about today, I found Ichiro’s admiration toward Kenji very interesting. Here we hear about a guy who was gun down during the war and lost (and continue to loses) a leg. We do not hear about his heroic acts or anything he did during the war. Yet, Ichiro thinks that he is brave and wishes to be like him, even with his rotting leg. “If Eto had been a brave men, if Eto had been wounded and given a medal, he would have dramatized his bravery”, to Ichiro, bravery is going to war, being hurt and not brag about it. For him is not about a heroic end but an honorable end.
ReplyDelete2. I think that this is a very hard question for me to answer. If I were in that position, I would resent the oppression, harm and humiliation that the government put the families through. It is hard to be willing to die for a country that does not want to and is clearly discriminating against you. On the other hand, it is hard to grow up in a place and not feel loyal to it. I would feel that I should defend my homeland against enemy forces. If it were any other force, I would not hesitate to serve, but being my parents’ country and part of my heritage brings another side to it. I think that at the end I would serve. At the end of the day, however, I would not be satisfied regardless of what I choose. A part of me will die either way.
3. I think that the problem in the reunion is that Ichiro wanted Brown to ask him if he went to the army and then act repulsed by Ichiro for not going. Brown did not really pay any attention to Ichiro and this bothers him a little. I think that Ichiro wants people to ask him about the past two years so he can confesses and be punish. In a way, he wants to be punish even more than he already has. I think he had no intentions of going back to school, he was looking for somebody else that knew him so that person could reminded him of his failures and disloyalties. What he found was a person who did not remember him and did not ask the right questions therefore he did punish Ichiro.
1. The moment that really stuck with me was when Ichiro was riding in the bus and "visualized the blocks ahead, picturing in his mind the buildings he remembered and reciting the names of the streets lying ahead, and he was pleased that he remembered so much unerringly"(53). This is Ichiro's home. He doesn't know Japan. Japan is a foreign country for him like any other born in America. Reading this was extremely sad because you can see that Ichiro will never feel completely at home here anymore no matter what happens because he carries so much guilt and shame on his shoulders. The blow has already been dealt, no one can do anything to make Ichiro feel differently, even if the US says that he is completely pardoned.
ReplyDelete2. I would have gone to war because whether or not his family likes it, Ichiro is American. By rejecting his identity as an American throws him into an abyss of hopelessness because he no longer has a home. He has nothing to fall back on. At least, this is what we see through his eyes in the novel so far. I say this even though I know the conditions the US placed in front of Ichiro are incredibly unfair and uncalled for. But, looking at the possible outcomes, I would still go into the army. As Ichiro says, "To be a student in America was a wonderful thing. To be a student in America studying engineering was a beautiful life. That, in itself, was worth defending against anyone and anything..."(53). Ichiro's way of life was completely interrupted, and it is impossible to return to. This loss is incredibly difficult and may be bigger than loosing the family you never connected with to begin with.
3. No, Ichiro is completely wrong here. During that entire conversation, Ichiro was trying to explain himself, and tell Brown about himself, but Brown went into autopilot. Brown was so used to talking to other Japanese-American students and had no interest in the specific story of Ichiro. A conversation requires 2 parties, and Brown was the only one speaking. It wasn't an actual conversation. That's why it felt fake and insubstantial. Ichiro is blinded by his shame. He now believes everything he thinks and says is invalid.
ReplyDeleteThe scene that stuck out to me was when Ichiro is talking about his life and not being able to return to school. I think this scene helps explain the main theme of this book which is loss of identity. Ichiro states, "Well because it's not the same. Or rather, I'm not the same." He has lost his ideenity and is struggling to fit in anywhere even among “his own people”. The war has taken all that he knew away and also the fact that he did not fight for either side makes him even more of an outcast.
I would have refused because the U.S. did not promise me anything in return if I fought. There was no guarantee that I would be accepted back into society even if I was Japanese. And also I would not fight my ancestors people and their home land because that culture is also part of who I am, even if I have never gone or barely know about it. Even if the conditions were bad, I would not go fight and risk dying for something ironic that was in a way going on in the U.S. and dying for something that I don’t believe in.
Ichiro is trying to once again fit into someplace and hopes Brown can help with this and remember who he is because Ichiro feels like nobody with no identity and no one to relate to. Ichiro expected Brown to not recognize him but still attempted. I think he is in a way seeking some sort of “redemption” for not going to war and is trying to fit in and hopes to somehow see and realize his decision to stay was correct, even though many of his peers went off to war
1) A moment that definitely stuck with me was the moment in which Kenji talked about his leg and all of its complications. This is a man who did not die fighting but must continue to live with this injury forever. It shows that even those who don't die must suffer after the war.
ReplyDelete2) I don't think that I would go to war in his position. It may not make that much of a difference in the long run, but I feel like I would have an incredibly hard time fighting for a country that put me into a concentration camp.
3) I don't think that anyone was at fault. I think that Ichiro expected too much from his old professor but I also believe that the professor was very awkward and insensitive.
1) What stood out to me the most was the moment after Ichiro finishes his reunion with Professor Brown and he does not feel fulfilled the way he thought he would. It was a pretty big disappointment in his eyes that he came searching for a place where he used to belong and feel welcomed but he found no comfort. I think I went through something very similar a few years ago when I went to visit my old elementary school's Fall Festival. After moving to a completely different environment/school I yearned so much to be back at my old school. And when I went back it was awkward. I obviously missing belonging in a classroom where I had all my friends but I felt out of routine all in general. Like the way Ichiro describes it as "…seeing without meeting, talking without hearing, smiling without feeling" (57). It was just so sad that in spite of Ichiro's ugly pessimism, he had hope of feeling like an accommodated student again.
ReplyDelete2) I find it so odd that many people would go fight knowing all the circumstances. I do recognize that many said they had a hard time deciding but for me it was hardly a struggle. It may also be that I'm extremely biased and very attached to my Mexican culture and I've also visited a number of times, even lived there for a few months. It would just seem so wrong to me. If I went and I saw so many people that looked like me and my job was to hurt them. In general I have so much against inflicting pain of any kind to any living creature, so my answer would be a definite no-no.
3)I think Ichiro makes a very logical and correct conclusion here. Obviously Brown's been sticking to what he knows for the past two years because he's been at the university. On the other hand Ichiro's been in a completely different environment and the world around him changed, therefore changing him. His outlook on the world is smeared with guilt and resentment. And also, he is the main character so clearly the book is about what happens to him, his journey, how he changes. And a Professor holds a number of students each year which he is not entitled to care for personally, only academically. That is the difference between Paideia and every other school in the world basically. And to be a honest and a bit racist, it makes sense that all his Japanese/Asian students would look the same to him. I mean Brown really thinks Ichiro went to war. I think Ichiro feels out of place and he went to the wrong person looking for guidance and comfort.