This is a special group of people who existed during World War II. They are both relatives and enemies, and they are insoluble in the new and the old.
Henry, the protagonist, is an American-born Chinese, and Keiko, the other protagonist, is clear when he hears this name. Yes, she is a Japanese-American born in the United States. Henry lives in China City and Keiko lives in Japanese City. These two cities belong to Seattle and are adjacent to each other, but they are two incompatible places, at least in Henry's father's place. The existence of Chinatown has always been a forbidden area for Henry's family, and stepping into it is tantamount to betrayal. Everything about Japan is off-limits in his home. My father made almost strict rules for little Henry, and he followed them. When he learned that little Henry had violated the rules, he resolutely broke off his father-son relationship with little Henry. For a child under 13, nothing is more terrible than the breakdown of father-son relationship.
What did little Henry do? Forcing my father to break up. He just kept some family photos for a Japanese-American family who was about to be sent to a concentration camp that he couldn't take away. He has just fallen in love with a Japanese American girl. This doesn't seem to be a big problem. Looking at Seattle, he is by no means a case, at least not serious enough to sever the relationship between father and son.
Little Henry can't understand. In his opinion, his father is trying to push him into a corner. He doesn't understand that he was born and raised in the United States, and Keiko also grew up in the United States. Why can't two Americans be together? Keiko didn't take part in the war, nor did her father. Why did she pay for the war? Why was she sent to a concentration camp? Are unfair.
After reading this book, I can actually understand Henry's father. His strict education of Henry seems unreasonable. But all this is because he witnessed the persecution of his compatriots. Because of the war, he was forced to leave his hometown at the age of thirteen. Anti-Japanese War is his lifelong career, and this war is his indelible hatred. Everything in Japan is evil in his eyes. His son, his proudest son, gave him the "hardest knife", making everything he did and everything he worked hard seem so ridiculous. So, how can you not understand this father's determination?
But I also understand Henry, who was born and raised in America. Strictly speaking, he is an American, but his parents, his family life and everything are from China, and his family is full of nationalism that he doesn't quite understand. However, it is really impossible for his father to feel the hatred of the country and the enemy. China, it's too far from him. She is my father's hometown, a group of relatives I have only heard of but never seen, and the badge of "I'm from China" my father gave me ... And China, when he was growing up, seemed to bring him only the "China guy" despised by his classmates at school, and the bully was always making trouble. ......
Little Henry is in a mess. His father has a firm identity with China, but he hopes that he will become an "American" as soon as possible. He sent himself from a Chinese school to a white school. He was only allowed to speak American, but he was required to wear the "I'm from China" badge. All this is so contradictory.
There are only two Asians in this white school, he and Keiko. They are the objects of ridicule and teasing by all white students, but they are not accepted as their "compatriots" because they are not as good as China and Japanese.
In this way, Henry and Keiko, who were tortured by the "splint gas" back and forth, became each other's only companions, and they were a beam of light shining into each other's chaotic lives.
This group of Asians born in World War II seems to be the most difficult group to find a sense of belonging. They are neither accepted by white Americans nor hated by tribes. This is unfair to them, but in this special period, they must silently endure such unfairness.
Henry and Keiko, "China" and "Japan" became each other's light and warm. Keiko's tenderness and loveliness are the most beautiful colors in Henry's heart. Not surprisingly, they fell in love. What about "China people" and "Japanese people"? Love is a matter for two people. Why not?
No way! Not here with Henry's father, but Henry received his father's Chinese education from childhood, and obedience and filial piety were rooted in his flesh and blood. His father's opposition is the biggest challenge for him. But the bigger obstacle is Pearl Harbor. After the Pearl Harbor incident, everything related to Japan was not allowed by the United States, and Americans and Japanese were forced to go to concentration camps.
Keiko disappeared like this, and the girl who grew up in America and couldn't even speak Japanese was sent to a concentration camp. What should I say? "Everyone is innocent, but he is guilty", these innocent Japanese-Americans, because they have Japanese blood on them, because they have yellow skin and brown eyes. What they can't choose and change has become their sin. This is war! Unreasonable, let alone fair.
The power of love is great, because it makes Henry try his best to find Keiko, makes Henry resolutely accept the fact of breaking up with his father, and makes him give up the last "olive branch" thrown by his father and return to China. He is willing to wait here for Keiko to come back. No matter how long it takes, he believes that the love between them can overcome everything.
But the truth is always so hard on the face, there is a saying called "everything depends on human effort." Henry's father used his relationship to block the communication between Henry and Keiko, making Henry mistakenly think that Keiko had given up on him. He was forced to move on, married another girl, a China girl, and then returned to China to finish his studies. All this seems to be done according to my father's expectations.
Look! In life, many things backfire, so the drama that the arm can't twist the thigh seems to be the normal state of life. He should be hysterical and resentful of his father, hateful concentration camps, hateful Japan, hateful America and even China ... He should be resentful and blameless. But he didn't. He loved his wife and served her in clothes until she died of serious illness. He brought up his son seriously. He still respects his father and cares about his mother. He likes jazz, Cantonese morning tea and Japanese sake. He lives and works in America. It seems that he has completely compromised with reality, no! Henry always said, look ahead and move forward.
This is his attitude towards life, how nice! In this life, many things backfire, and nine times out of ten, if you get stuck, you will live too painfully. What about his father? He was relieved that "family doesn't need to be perfect." This is the answer given by Henry, which shocked me greatly.
So Henry lost everything in the past? What did he and Keiko go through? No, he's been looking for the jazz vinyl records Keiko gave him all his life, never giving up, never. Forty-four years, he spent forty-four years to pursue this memory.
By chance, my father found this vinyl record, which was half broken after 44 years, in the Japanese hotel Panama Hotel, which was kept under the condition of returning to study abroad. Is it a pity? Life is always so imperfect, but so what? There are always some flaws in what you get, but so what? That's enough.
This fate seems to end here, but sometimes God is beautiful when he comes of age. With the help of his son and daughter-in-law, Henry found Keiko.
44 years ~
When he looked back on his life, everything seemed so unfair, but it was remarkable that people accepted it and tried their best to live a good life.