Lost Names by Richard Kim
Richard Kim’s short story “Lost Names”, is a historical fiction piece taking place in 1940, in the midst of Japan’s imperial occupation of Korea during World War II. The story follows a young boy’s daily routine, until he is interrupted to undergo an infamous ritual imposed upon colonized Koreans by the Japanese—the replacement of their native names with Japanese names. The boy is trying to understand the bleakness of his surroundings and avoid the pain of being privileged compared to his peers (his father is denoted as a “rich man”). Themes of honor, shame, identity, race, and family are present throughout. The story focuses around the practice of renaming Koreans.
The story begins with an interaction between the boy and his younger sister. The boy is contemplating the severity of the winter weather while the sister clamors and complains for a pair of ice skates like her older has. Around this topic, the subject of their mother is brought up, who has given birth to a daughter and is currently away from the family home, north in the city of Pyongyang. We can already begin to see how subtle the author introduces elements of traditional family values and …show more content…
Some adults, including his father, say mysterious, grownup things to the boy, which the narrator, reminiscing on his past, remembered and came to realize what it all meant. It meant that Imperial Japan wanted to stamp out any form of identity that Koreans set apart for themselves, with the end objective of assimilating them with the Japanese masses and culture. Through this, Japan has an entire race of people to call upon and bring into battle with them as they continue
Richard Kim’s short story “Lost Names”, is a historical fiction piece taking place in 1940, in the midst of Japan’s imperial occupation of Korea during World War II. The story follows a young boy’s daily routine, until he is interrupted to undergo an infamous ritual imposed upon colonized Koreans by the Japanese—the replacement of their native names with Japanese names. The boy is trying to understand the bleakness of his surroundings and avoid the pain of being privileged compared to his peers (his father is denoted as a “rich man”). Themes of honor, shame, identity, race, and family are present throughout. The story focuses around the practice of renaming Koreans.
The story begins with an interaction between the boy and his younger sister. The boy is contemplating the severity of the winter weather while the sister clamors and complains for a pair of ice skates like her older has. Around this topic, the subject of their mother is brought up, who has given birth to a daughter and is currently away from the family home, north in the city of Pyongyang. We can already begin to see how subtle the author introduces elements of traditional family values and …show more content…
Some adults, including his father, say mysterious, grownup things to the boy, which the narrator, reminiscing on his past, remembered and came to realize what it all meant. It meant that Imperial Japan wanted to stamp out any form of identity that Koreans set apart for themselves, with the end objective of assimilating them with the Japanese masses and culture. Through this, Japan has an entire race of people to call upon and bring into battle with them as they continue