Genre
Historical Fiction
Setting and Context
Set in Seattle after the Second World War
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narration
Tone and Mood
The tone and mood are neutral.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is Ichiro Yamada and the antagonist is the stigma and prejudice for evading the draft.
Major Conflict
Ichiro has just served two years in a Japanese internment camp following his loyalty test during the war. Accordingly, he has to navigate the prejudiced society as a no-no boy facing discrimination from veterans.
Climax
The climax reaches when Mrs. Yamada –Ichiro’s mother – commits suicide.
Foreshadowing
The encounter with Eto in the opening foreshadows the prejudice Ishiro will face from other war veterans.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
The novel alludes to the loyalty questionnaire during the Second World War that sort to determine if the Japanese Americans were patriotic.
Imagery
N/A
Paradox
The paradox is Ichiro’s identity crisis from being American and the loyalty to his mother and home country.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
No-no boy is a metonymy for Japanese Americana who said no to fighting in the war.
Personification
“The sun, barely starting to peek over the eastern rim, was forcing its crown of vivid yellows and oranges and reds against the great expanse of hazy blue.”
