The book Lost Names by Richard Kim is a classic story in which seven dramatic scenes have been painted, starting from the stage of boyhood to reaching youthfulness, in Korea at a time when the Japanese were occupying the country from 1932 to 1945. The title itself connotes the dismal facts about how the Japanese forced the Koreans to relinquish their original names and to instead assume Japanese names.
The story narrates the travails of a particular family through the entire process of the occupation of the country by the Japanese until the time they surrendered in 1945. The book is full of loving memories of a family and the brilliant depiction of how it suffered during its time of anguish. It is known that whatever is stated in the book was actually experienced by Richard Kim, but he has categorically clarified that it is not his autobiography. The book’s genre is not as significant as much as the human face that has been portrayed during the colonial phase about which the book was written.
Every chapter of the book reveals a different story, and taken together all parts provide a bright picture of the life in Korea during the colonial phase along with the family dynamics that were present under the circumstances. Essentially, the period covered is from 1932 when the author was only one year old, until the country was liberated in 1945. The narration of the family departing and undergoing the rigors of crossing the frozen Tumen river while travelling from Korea to Manchuria is indeed soul-stirring and in this context, the description of the sun “plummeting down toward the frozen expanse of the northern Manchurian plain” (Kim, 1998), is clearly representative of the eventual fall of the Japanese empire.
The imprisonment of the father is referred to in the story several times, but it does not become clear as to what his fault was, and the manner in which his faults are narrated suggest that he was defiant towards the authorities and acting against their interests. It is however clear after reading the book that the father of the narrator does ultimately earn the reverence of his fellow countrymen and of the Japanese too.
After the family moves back to Korea from Manchuria, the boy learns new things in school, like being required to bow down in reverence to the Japanese emperor as is done in Japan. The book is touching when the reader realizes that the boy obeys and does what he is asked to do, and in bowing down, he wonders whether the emperor is aware of such action on his part. He wonders what the emperor will say if he knocks on his door and says “Your Majesty! The children, the children! They are bowing to Your Majesty!” (Kim, 1998), and then he says, “wait a minute! I have my pants down!” (Kim, 1998).
The boy is confused when after some years, they are informed that they would require new names and will have to do away with their family names. It is sorrowful seeing the father take his son to the ancestral cemetery to ask for forgiveness for changing their names.
History is brought alive by the author by depicting scenes of the growing boy as he mingles with other children and experiences the hardships associated with colonization. Kim has used easy to understand and powerful voices in evoking the love within the family and the strong will to survive. Indeed, Lost Names is beautifully written and is a compliment to the Korean people in a delicate and poignant narration of the events during the entire period of the Japanese occupation.
The end of the book evokes a lot of contradiction between liberated and liberation. The father and his son have a detailed discussion about the meaning of liberty and what it implies for the people of Korea. The boy had earlier confided in his mother that the Koreans had not won freedom, but it was given to them, “It just dropped from the sky, like a present” (Kim, 1998). His father was aware of this discussion and told him that he was right and that their freedom was in fact a gift. The father tells his son about how his ancestors were disorganized and were unassertive in claiming their rights. He was very critical of the way in which the country was allowed to be colonized by the Japanese.
The author vividly passes the torch from the generation of the father to the son and in realizing this, the father is hopeful in saying that “I am only hoping that your generation will have enough will and strength to make sure the country will not make the same mistakes and repeat its shameful history. I only hope, son that mere survival will not become the only goal of your generation’s lives. There must be more in life than just that” (Kim, 1998).
These words epitomize the torment and agony in the history of the liberation of Korea and the different potential that the future held for them. The concluding chapters indicate that the coming generation has to command its future in making history instead of becoming mere spectators. They have to shape their destiny instead of becoming pawns in the hands of power brokers. In ending on this note, the book provides for an optimistic fortitude on the part of the chronicler in ensuring that the future does hold strong for the Koreans.
Works Cited
Richard E. Kim, Lost Names, 1998, University of California Press.