No-No Boy

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John Okada's No-No Boy Plot Summary John Okada's No-No Boy takes place in Seattle after World War II. The main character is named Ishiro. He is a "no-no boy" because he refused to fight in the war because his mother thought it to be treasonous. When he was released after 2 years in prison, he headed back to Seattle. This is where most of the story takes place. As Ishiro is heading home, he meets a familiar face. The person he meets is named Eto. Ishiro tries to avoid Eto but eventually Eto catches him. They talk for a while and Ishiro alludes to the fact that he is not a veteran. Eto quickly changes his attitude towards Ishiro and spits on him. Once Ishiro is home, he sees his father first, his mother is away buying bread. Ishiro is not very happy with his parents or with the world. Eventually he meets his brother Taro. They seem distant to each other and not very friendly at all. In fact, Ishiro is not very friendly with anyone in his family. Ishiro's mother urges him to go back to school but Ishiro does not want to. Ishiro and his mother go and visit some old family friends that they haven't seen since before the war. One of the families they meet had a son that died in the war. The story takes a turn when he meets Kenji while eating a hamburger. Kenji has lost his leg in the war and has a nice sports car. They strike up a friendship almost immediately because Kenji does not care that Ishiro is a no-no boy. They go to a bar drinking one night after Taro decided to join the army, Ishiro gets wasted and his brother for some reason wants to talk to him outside of the Club. Taro set Ishiro up to get beat up but Kenji comes and saves Ishiro from the youths. After they leave the club, they drive to the country to meet Emi. Emi is a friend of Kenji's and Ishiro is forced to sleep in the bed with her. In the next few days Ishiros mother has found out that Japan has really lost the war and that her family is suffering back in Japan. She goes crazy because of this.

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