Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood

Matthew Sudnik
Grades 9-12
Honors World History & Geography I
Central Catholic High School
Book review: Lost Names
The material and reading level of Richard E. Kim’s Lost Names is appropriate for high school students from grades 9-12. At Central Catholic, all of our freshmen read classics such as Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird. Lost Names fits well among these texts. It is a serious coming-of-age story, rich with images from a Korean boy’s experience of Japanese occupation. The content would also fit in our senior World Literature course along texts such as Night and The Kite Runner. There is nothing in this text I would not share with students from fifteen to eighteen years of age. It is engaging and challenging to freshmen and seniors alike.
The book reads like a memoir of boyhood and adolescence under Japanese occupation. The narrator describes his formal education in which the Korean children were instructed to perform ceremonial bowing toward the Emperor, perform a school play about Japanese military triumphs, and, give up the study of the Korean language and even their own names for new, Japanese names. While the Korean culture is disappearing in all institutions of society, the boy’s family unit remains a refuge for Korean ideas and culture. The narrator’s father was a political activist who spent years in prison for organizing a resistance movement against the Japanese. Throughout the book, the father is held in high regard by his son’s teachers and other members of civil society for his courage and activism again the Japanese. The father’s past also causes difficulties for his son who is beaten by teachers on two occasions. Throughout the story, the reader is presented with the struggle of the importance of preserving one’s culture and identity.
I would use this book in class to discuss a variety of topics. The issue of names can lead to a serious discussion of identity and cultural hegemony. What are the most essential aspects of a culture? What is the value of preserving languages, rituals, customs, etc? Can students produce examples of other languages and cultures that have been lost to the wars and conflicts of world history? Why might new immigrants to America want to preserve their language and customs?
Another important topic in this book is the idea of agency and power in the context of Korean culture. Throughout the story the boy and his family lose their sense of agency and power. In the first chapter, the family is prevented from travelling to Manchuria for the father’s new teaching position. Next, the schoolchildren must perform Japanese ceremonial rituals in honor of the Emperor. Then, the narrator is forced to read the part of a Japanese lieutenant in a school play. He must deliver a long speech about loyalty to the Japanese Empire (instead he intentionally forgets his lines). This complete deficit of agency is reversed in the final chapter when the narrator and his father lead the effort to liberate their town from the Japanese Empire at the end of the war. This liberation effort is important because the narrator and his father underscore the importance of bringing about their own liberation. Furthermore, while the Japanese are powerful throughout the story, they appear foolish and uncertain in wielding power.
For these reasons, Lost Names would fit well among other coming-of-age texts in a literature class. Richard Kim describes the psychology of a boy growing into a young man in the Korean culture. With reverence for his family and his culture, he struggles to negotiate the clashing worlds around him. Lost Names would also contribute to a modern history class or social science class on the relationship between the various peoples of East Asia and the importance of language, customs, and culture.

Name: Daniel Kornosky
Grades/Subjects Taught: 10th Grade World History II and 12th Grade Government and Economics
School: Oakland Catholic High School
Lost Names by: Richard E. Kim
Lost Names is a wonderful book with many themes which is surely appropriate for all grade levels. Lost Names can be related to younger students as long as the appropriate background is taught to students before reading. Not only is this story easy to read and engaging, but the story also allows the reader to feel as if they are a part of the cast of characters and understand the themes of culture, politics, world relations, military, and the thought processes of the characters in the book.
Before reading Lost Names I had no knowledge of what the book would be about. I figured that it would be a standard reading that would be used mostly for my knowledge and not necessarily for my students. It only took a few pages of reading for me to see that this book would work very well with my students. The story is about a young boy (we do not learn his name and we do not learn his age until the final part of the story) living in Japanese occupied Korea. The story follows his traditional upbringing and his family of three generations living in one household. The reader is able to understand traditional Korean culture, but also is able to see the differences between the grandfather’s, father’s, and son’s generations. The story quickly delves into how the Japanese occupation drastically changed the lives of the boy and his family from matters such as the changes in the school system and subjects taught to the racism towards the Koreans by the Japanese. Lost Names is able to provide its readers with a very simple, but advanced understanding of Korean and Japanese culture, politics, military, and self image. Once the foundation is set from the understanding the intense relations of Korea and Japan the reader is able to see the role of Korea in terms of Korea, Korea: Japanese relations, Korea: Asian relations, Korea: world relations and to see the role and history of Korea past and present.
Lost Names also delves into more symbolism and the story allows the reader to make connections between Japanese occupied Korea and modern day world affairs. The reader is able to distinctly see the difference between self liberation and liberation from outsiders, assimilation and cultural imperialism, the progression of Korea as a country through its political struggle portrayed through the personal struggles of the three generations in the story.
If I were to use Lost Names in my class, I would primarily use it as a way for students to understand the impacts on war on a personal level. The students would be able to understand World War II, without actually reading about the war. I would then use the book as a way to introduce and analyze imperialism, Asian culture, and world relations. Finally, I would use Lost Names as a way to draw connections to the present day with world conflicts such as the War in Iraq and Afghanistan, modern day imperialism, and the political role of North and South Korea, China, and Japan today. We would easily be able to discuss how the themes in Lost Names impact the modern world and apply these same themes and understandings to world affairs.
Lost Names is a wonderful tale that can be used for many purposes and I truly look forward to using it in my classroom in the future.

This novel can be read equally well from the perspective of literature as well as history. In terms of literature, there are numerous motifs (snow, names) that repeat across the text, so literature teachers can find ample use for the text, in addition to its historical context.

I read this novel with the intent of learning more about the Japanese occupation of Korea. I felt that the novel did a good job of addressing anti-Japanese sentiment during this time period. Students at the high school level would be able to relate to the narrator's sequencing and experiences. This novel would best be suited for students at the high school level with interest in Korean or Japanese studies. Additionally, it could be utilized to encapsulate the effects of occupation and cultural suppression.