Reference
Review by NCTA teacher Allison Newmyer (Pittsburgh)
10th Grade American Literature
Oakland Catholic High School
Review of Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood
Lost Names is the fictional autobiography of Richard Kim, a Korean who lived through the Japanese occupation of his country during World War II. It is deemed a fictional autobiography because according to Kim while all of the characters and events that are described in the book are real, everything else is fiction. Because of the age of novel’s protagonist, I feel that the novel would be best used in a ninth or tenth grade classroom. However, it would lend itself nicely to a cross-curricular unit between history and English classes due to the way the novel pairs finding one’s identity during a time of political and social turmoil.
Lost Names is organized into seven chapters, and each chapter takes the reader along on the journey through Kim’s childhood while he lives in occupied, war torn Korea. The story revolves around the idea that Kim and his family lost their identities due to the Japanese occupying forces that mandate that all Koreans abandon their Korean names for a better Japanese name. The rest of the story then describes how Kim and his family battle to maintain their Korean cultural identity and way of life while being forced to adhere to the ways of the occupying Japanese forces. The reader is able to witness Kim’s family, school and social life through his eyes as he and his family are forced to adhere to the rules set forth by the occupying Japanese forces. Many of the events and situations described in the novel are emotionally charged and would serve as the jumping off point for journaling and other “what if you were in his shoes” writing assignments. I feel that students would be moved to write about the times that Kim is punished in school, or when he is considered to finally be a man in the eyes of his father and grandfather because the emotions that Kim experiences in these two examples are ones that are still felt by adolescents in this day and age. There are many themes that could be explored through study of this novel, namely discovering one’s identity; the bonds of family; and the importance of cultural identity.
The novel would work best if it is paired with a history unit on World War Two that specifically focuses on what was going on at the time in Korea and Japan. It would also be beneficial for students to spend some time reviewing the cultural background of Korea and Japan because a thorough understanding of the two nation’s cultural similarities and differences is critical if students are to get the most out of the text. Lost Names is an easy read and could be broken up into excerpts used to highlight or illustrated certain ideas or concepts if there is not time to read the entire novel.
