John Okada's No-No Boy: The Gaze from Others

In the tenth chapter of John Okada’s No-No Boy, Ichiro seems to need a gaze from Christians, who make him feel that he is really moving on for his own mind at the end of his forgiving thought should be clearly examined. As Tommy and Ichiro initially come to the church, they are not welcomed by the public in the church. Subsequently, Tommy and Ichiro join a smaller church. Compared with the former one, they appear to be much delighted for the friendliness from the church members while they are quite accepted by the congregation there. Ichiro unexpectedly finds that there is white-haired Negro comes who stands in the back of them. Nevertheless, no one would like to converse with the Negro even though everyone seems to know of this colored man’s presence. The Negro in their back is not only the one who is alienated but also is like an “intruder” (Okada 231) as he enters into the small church. The Negro, who appears to reflect Tommy and Ichiro’s predicament of not being involved in the former church, is naturally being cast aside without saying a word. Nevertheless, Tommy appears to make a contrast to the Negro by affirming that those church members truly like him and Ichiro as if they deserved more attention than the Negro. Thus, Tommy warns that they better not to have position to care about other races because they have got enough troubles. Although Ichiro at first loathes watching everyone who turns a blind eye on that Negro, he subsequently seems to realize that he has been forgiven as if he was officially accepted by the church members for those church members treat Tommy and Ichiro quite nice even though they deeply know that the Negro is apparently rejected by those church members. Ichiro therefore assumes that his guilty has been swept away by entering the recognition of the Christians. As Ichiro says, “I have been forgiven and it is only right for me to feel this way or else I would not be riding unnoticed and unmolested on a bus along a street in Seattle on a gloomy, rain-soaked day” (Okada 232), he may find that he is now different from the Negro and begin to make a turn. However, as Ichiro comes back to Seattle, standing at the bus stop, he actually does not even receive any glance from the cluster of people.