John Okada's No-No Boy: What does it mean to be an American?

In John Okada’s No-No Boy, Ichiro Yamada, the protagonist, constantly encounters the suffering from the Japanese-Americans who view him as a traitor. In Okada’s No-No Boy, as Ichiro struggles with other characters who are eager to participate in the American army, to serve in the army of America becomes the kernel spirit as most people show their loyalty to their country. When Ichiro confronts with his brother Taro, he easily scorns Taro by making a contrast with him and alienating himself from him who is so frighteningly to “get into uniform to prove that [he] is not a part of [Ichiro’s]” (Okada 81). Besides, when Ichiro meets Kenji, who is more America than most American with his injured leg as serving in the military for America, he feels “a strange exhilaration” (Okada 63) as to Kenji’s life. Because Kenji is a veteran of the army of America, he always has right to laugh and love and hope in spite of his injured leg that is consuming him in a few years. Nevertheless, Ichiro seems not to have any right to do anything for America based on his past two years in prison. Unlike Ichiro, in the fourth chapter, Mike, who is told by Emi, is an American veteran of the first war and decides to go to Japan as he antagonizes the people against the government. Therefore, to prove that one is American turns out to be the very condition as getting involved in the America military.

Ichiro, though seemingly distressing and negative, endeavors to carve out his quest for his ambiguous identity by undergoing his self-doubt process of facing others who are eager to go into the army of America. He emphasizes his identity that is neither Japanese nor American for he not only resists his partial American identity but also desperately wants to know who he is by seeing himself without any country attached. Despite the fact that Ichiro is sent to prison for his refusal to take his oath of allegiance to the United States, he asks why he still is unable to convince himself that he is no different from any other American. He even questions himself never to be known again what it is to be an American. Although Ichiro has not found any answer at present, other people who are eagerly engage in the American army appears to be recognized for what they have done to the country. Nonetheless, it seems that going in the army should be the only one reason for the recognition of being the American. As Ichiro considers that “it is not enough to be American only in the eyes of the law and it is not enough to be only half an American and know that it is an empty half” (Okada 16), perhaps what he searches in his life is to break away only one single recognition of what it means to be an American.