Essays on No-No Boy

A novel by John Okada, “No-No Boy” is a story about the internment of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War and their reintegration into American society. The main character, Ichiro Yamada, is a young man who was born in the United States to Japanese immigrants. When the war breaks out, he and his family are sent to an internment camp in Idaho. There, he meets a girl named Kenji, who is also interned. The two become friends, and when the war ends, they return to Seattle. Kenji helps Ichiro to find a job and to adjust to life outside the camp. However, Ichiro is haunted by his experience in the camp, and he is unable to forget the atrocities he witnessed there. When he learns that Kenji is planning to go back to Japan, he realizes that he must come to terms with his past before he can move on with his life. “No-No Boy” is a powerful novel about the effects of war, racism, and internment on the lives of Japanese-Americans.