A Boy Called H, by Kappa Senoh

Résumé du document

?A Boy' has written an autobiographical novel. In this novel, A Boy called ?H' ?A Childhood in Wartime Japan.' Kappa Senoh describes his life as a young boy who grew up in the port city of Kobe, Japan. This coming-of-age story takes place between 1937 and the post-war of the U.S. occupation in Japan. The story is written from the eyes and thoughts of a third person who is the narrator and this story a seven year old boy called ?H.' The reader observes the Japanese road to war in the 1930s and views a complete picture of a society witnessing war at large. The author portrays the lifestyle in Kobe and its impact when it was profoundly affected by the war with China. The impact worsens when the war with the United States is declared. The author gives us the image of a society influenced by authoritarianism, nationalism and violence. Further, it depicts a society in which patriotic songs and heroic stories could barely hide the terrible reality of a wartime life filled with fear, blood and tears.

Extraits

[...] While some army officials were committing ritual suicide Boy Called 457), life began little by little to become normal again, H drawing portraits of occupying U.S. soldiers. The Japanese society underwent a kind of Westernization, the language being reformed and democracy being installed promptly Boy Called 481), with the Liberal and Progressive Party obtaining seats in the new Diet. Rice, also, began slowly to be more abundant than in the last wartime years, but most people were still dreadfully hungry Boy Called 491). [...]

[...] As for lies, we see, as H. learns it, that there was a huge difference between the government's official version of events and the reality. The press, indeed, had to undergo a very strict censorship and the newspapers offered a “reality” that was in accordance with the regime's needs. A recurring theme in the book is the unreality of the newspapers offered. They simply did not report the truth, and H knew it: he had this sense, like his father did, that the story they were getting was only a part of the truth, the part that the government wanted them to have. [...]

[...] Most notably, H's own house was destroyed in an air raid by U.S. bombers. Daily life, as experienced by H and his family, was torn between hunger, fear, death and houses burnt down Boy Called 335). Concerning Japanese attitudes toward the war, they were ambiguous. There was by no means a total craze for war among the majority of the Japanese, particularly when people's lives worsened as the country got stuck in what turned out to be an ill-conceived and hopeless war. [...]

[...] That was the official view of war, that which was taught in schools, as decided by national propaganda. In this respect, Japan's will to create a Greater East Asia sphere appeared to be a natural solution to Japanese economic problems, a means of achieving peace and economic prosperity like the hated West, and not a domination war. order to preserve peace in Asia [ ] Japan wanted to create a Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere, but America mistakenly saw this as an attempt to dominate Asia. [...]

[...] And water supply was working again in H's school. Yet, not everything changed, and the press censorship remained in place, for different reasons: “MacArthur loves the freedom of the press as much as any man. But he will not allow it to carry unconstructive criticism of the allies” Boy Called 467). Concerning Japanese receptivity to military occupation, the narrator does not give as bad an image of the situation as one could expect: many people cooperated with the former enemy, and George Fujita, for instance, “seemed to be doing well, working as an interpreter for the occupation forces” Boy Called 527). [...]