35 pages • 1 hour read
John OkadaNo-No Boy
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1956A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaSymbols & Motifs
Letters
Letters play a significant role in the narrative. Ichiro’s mother shares the first letter with him upon his arrival back home from jail. This letter is pivotal, demonstrating just how committed she is to her alternate reality in which Japan is infallible and America’s victory is impossible. In addition to displaying her state of mind, the first letter also illustrates the wide gulf between Ichiro and his mother, one that cannot be repaired. The second letter is also crucial because this missive from home, in which a younger sister pleads for help in defeated Japan, sets Ichiro’s mother’s collapse in motion. Unable to accept what she is hearing, Ichiro’s mother retreats further and further from her son and husband, a trend that continues until her suicide.
Cars
Ichiro spends a lot of time in the cars of Kenji and Freddie, taking different experiences from each. Kenji’s car is specially outfitted for him as recompense for his war injury. The first time Ichiro travels in it, he spends much of his time trying to decide if he would want to change places with Kenji. Later, Ichiro travels with Kenji in the car quite a bit to the various locales that allow Ichiro to further contemplate his position in America now. Together he and Ichiro try to speed off to their respective futures, a nebulous one in Portland for Ichiro and a premature death in the hospital for Kenji. In the process, they are pulled over by the police and harassed for their ethnicity. After saying goodbye to Kenji in the hospital, Ichiro takes the car to Kenji’s dad. As Ichiro hands over the keys, he is forced to accept the reality of Kenji’s death and his own need to see his parents again. Ichiro’s time spent in Freddie’s car is also focused around socializing, but unlike Kenji’s car, which runs its course with purpose, carrying Ichiro to greater realizations, Freddie’s car runs its occupant into the ground quite literally. It becomes the weapon Freddie uses to end his life. At the end of the novel, Ichiro is left to head off in the direction of that “faint and elusive insinuation of promise” he sees ahead of him.
Coming of Age (Bildungsroman)
The novel is a coming of age story, in that Ichiro goes through a journey of moral development. He begins the novel feeling afraid, angry and ashamed. Throughout the book, he is forced to face his decision not to serve and in the process he matures and grows. While he still has more to resolve, the novel ends on note of resolution. Ichiro will attempt to connect with his father and Emi and will continue to make a place for himself in American society.
