On The Ambiguity Of John Okada's No-No Boy

John Okada (1957-1971), a Japanese American writer, is considered as one of the outstanding representatives of contemporary American literary figures. His novel No-No Boy creates a new ground for those Asian American writers who are committed to the studies of racial prejudice. Meanwhile, Elaine H. Kim, an American ethnic critic, points out that No-No Boy vividly and painfully explores the effect of internment on Japanese American families and Japanese American community, which can not be matched by any other Japanese American literary works. Today, foreign critics have paid much attention to the novel, and believed No-No Boy opens a door for the second-generation Japanese American writers to American literature.No-No Boy does not get its welcome at first, but with critics'constant attention, it wins its belated recognition. Why dose the novel have such shifting reception? The ambiguity of the novel plays an important role for such a result. In this thesis, ambiguity mainly refers to a thing which consists of two or more contradictions. Though these contradictory elements repel each other, they still coexist in a thing. When readers want to have a good comprehension of a thing, they will find that they have difficulty in distinguishing its major aspects. Therefore, previous critics have made different and even contradictory conclusions of No-No Boy.This thesis has a systematic analysis of and research on the ambiguity of No-No Boy. It analyzes the novel from three aspects: the ambiguity of the context, the ambiguity of Ichiro's self-searching and the ambiguity of the cultural values. The first part analyzes the social backgrounds for the novel's formation. And under such social backgrounds, how does the author create such an ambiguous novel through his ambiguous identities? Meanwhile, the thesis points out the chaotic social backgrounds make the author in a confused state. And the title of the novel reveals the author's ambiguous intention at the superficial level. The second part gives an in-depth analysis of the novel's ambiguity, taking the ambiguity of Ichiro's self-searching as central aspect. It points out that Ichiro, the protagonist, influenced by the self-contradictory characters: mother, Kenji and Emi, constructs an ambiguous self and retrieves an uncertain future. The third part analyzes the reasons for the ambiguity of the cultural values among Japanese Americans in the novel. They are attacked by different cultural values from the family, community and society. They can not form common norms to their culture. When they are recognized by a group, they are excluded by another. Therefore, they are in a fluctuating state. Finally, the conclusion states that Okada affected by external contradictory context and internal ambiguous intention, creates an ambiguous protagonist Ichiro. Through Ichiro, Okada strongly criticizes American cultural racism which causes Japanese Americans'distortion and trauma.