Lee, A. 1 Alexia Lee Mrs.

Sullivan Reading Summer 2011 When My Name Was Keoko Character Analysis Essay World War II was a devastating affair that left a brutal mark on families all around the globe. It forced citizens that normally would have been well-off to use nothing but their instincts to survive. Koreans especially had to suffer due to the fact that Japan had mercilessly taken over their country. An example of a Korean family that had to endure this burdensome war was the Kim family from When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park. The youngest daughter, Sunhee Kim, portrayed a variety of unique traits that assisted both her and her family throughout the war. Among Sun-hees remarkable traits were intelligence, kindness, and determination. Intelligence is a virtue that can be applied to an expansive amount of situations. In Sunhees case, she used her intelligence to aid her family. Sun-hee was able to take everyday kanji characters and take them apart so that they told a fascinating story. This helped her remember the meaning of the characters, so she tried to teach her elder brother, Tae-yul, this method so that he would improve his grades in school. Mouth, she says. Gate. When you put them together, you get ask or question, right? Its a guard at the palace gate, and hes questioning Sim Chungs poor blind father-you know, the part where he almost gets turned away, but she recognizes him just in time, (Park 25). This quote showed that Sun-hee, unlike many of her

Lee, A. 2 fellow classmates, had the skill to turn something as simple as a kanji character into an elaborate story. By sharing her kanji stories with her brother, she was helping him better his schoolwork so that the Japanese would not scold him. Through cleverness and a special ability to read between the lines, Sun-hee additionally analyzed Tae-yuls letters so that she could understand his words in a way that the Japanese never could. By doing this, she was able to inform her family about what was really going on at Tae-yuls training camp. By order of the Emperor. The Youth Air Corps. EmperorAirTae-yul was going to be a kamikaze, (143). Due to the fact that the Japanese would not allow the soldiers to tell their families what the true activities of the camp were, Tae-yul was forced to drop subtle hints in his letter, hoping that Sun-hee would understand what they meant. Had Sun-hee not possessed the mental capacity to understand these hints, no one would have known about Tae-yuls decision to be a kamikaze. By unearthing the truth, Sun-hee unclouded her parents eyes from the lies of the Japanese. Finally, Sun-hee used her wits to offer a plan that could save the life of her kamikaze brother. But what if you were to tell them something like the truth? Tell them that Uncle is a resistance worker- they know that already, right? And that Tae-yul admired Uncle greatly. And therefore you think Tae-yul should not be trusted on a mission of such importance. He should be stopped from flying, (147). Sunhee applied her quick-wittedness to a plan that could prevent Tae-yuls death so that her family would not have to grieve over a lost loved one. In short, Sun-hee was an extremely intelligent girl, and she was able to aid her family by using her mind to rescue them from the cruel obstacles that the Japanese kept hurtling at them. Aside from being acute, Sun-hee expressed a sense of kindness beyond her years. When Mrs. Ahn did not know how to do the count-off in Japanese, Sun-hee felt an obligation to try and

Lee, A. 3 assist her. Roku, I whispered, (55). Sun-hee knew that if Mrs. Ahn didnt say roku which was her number during the count-off, then the Japanese would hurt her. Not wanting to see Mrs. Ahn get punished, Sun-hee tried to tip her off, which showed that she was warm-hearted. Next, although many of the Korean and Japanese citizens were completely fine with the prospect of death, Sun-hee did not believe in it. Even the thought of killing had made my stomach feel cold, (51). Unlike Tomo and his friends, Sun-hee was sympathetic enough to realize that killing was a cruel action that was not to be enjoyed. Finally, Sun-hee was open-minded enough to forgive those that had been named chin-il-pa, also known as the lovers of Japan or the traitors of Korea. We laughed together, and in that moment, I knew that we could still be friends, (112). Even though Jung-shins family betrayed their country, Sun-hee still found the gentleness in her heart to remain friends with her. In summation, Sun-hee had a glowing aura of benevolence that she demonstrated to many people during the harsh times of World War II. On top of being kind, Sun-hee had a burning determination that allowed her to keep rebelling against Japan. When Sun-hee had to be beaten for using her friends Korean name, her dedication told her to remain angry at the Japanese. So when the bamboo cane swished through the air, I was angry, not frightened. With each stinging whack, the word rang in my mindunfair-unfair-unfair-unfair-unfair.Best of all, I was too angry to cry, (17). Had Sunhees determination faltered, she would have submitted to the Japanese, but instead, she let her anger rage on. Next, even though Japan forced the Koreans to get rid of everything that represented Korea, Sun-hee still kept faith in the few Korean items she had. Truly, rose of Sharon trees are not as beautiful as cherry trees. But if that little tree were ever planted outside again, I knew it would be the most beautiful tree in the world, (35). Sun-hees determination to

Lee, A. 4 continue believing in her country led her to think that a single Korean rose of Sharon tree was more beautiful than the Japanese cherry tree. Finally, despite the fact that the Japanese had taken away and outlawed the Korean alphabet, Sun-hee was still convinced that it was of great value. How could an alphabet-letters that didnt even mean anything by themselves-be important? But it was important. Our stories, our names, our alphabet, even Uncles newspaper, (107). Rather than giving in to the withdrawal of her alphabet, Sun-hee remained strong and told herself that it was still something worth fighting for. To sum up, Sun-hee constantly kept a strong-willed mentality so that she could retain herself from falling into the deep pit of submissiveness that Japan was trying to force her into. Korea, like many countries, was a region that had to suffer under the unmerciful hand of World War II. However, a magnificent young girl by the name of Sun-hee Kim portrayed cleverness, kindness, and determination that allowed her and her family to persevere through the vicious war. Linda Sue Park truly made a statement in her well-strung novel When My Name Was Keoko. It just goes to show that with the right mixture of attributes, one can survive just about everything.