No-No Boy

Racism is a primary focus in the novel. Ichiro and Kenji both experience discrimination for being Japanese, and both characters spend time reflecting on the causes of prejudice. To the police officer who pulls the two friends over for speeding, it doesnot matter that Kenji served and Ichiro is a no-no boy. They are both simply “Japs” whose ability to read English and understand the culture can be questioned and ridiculed. Throughout the book when Ichiro and Kenji face prejudice, it leads them to think about the way racial bias mars the country as a whole. They both connect their persecution to rampant discrimination against African Americans especially. Before his final trip to the hospital, Kenji tries to make sense of the racism he sees around him, against those who are Chinese, Japanese, Jewish, Italian, Polish and more. “Kenji thought about these things and tried to organize in his mind so that the pattern could be seen and studied and the answers deduced therefrom. And there was no answer because there was no pattern and all he could feel was that the world was full of hatred” (136). No matter which group is being singled out, the novel stands in strong condemnation of prejudiced hate.