Plot Overview

About the Author

The death of their 3 sons and how much it impacted

their lives.s

Molly Fumia is a mother with seven children, one in

which has died from infancy. She lives near San
Jose in a city called Los Gatos with her children and
husband, Chuck. She holds a masters degree in
Theology (the study of the nature of God and
religious belief) in the Graduate Theological Union
in Berkeley, California. Not only did she write Honor
Thy Children, but other interesting novels as well,
such as: A Piece of my Heart: Living Through the
Grief of Miscarriage, Infant Death, and Safe
Passage. What influenced her writing are from the
hopes of the stories she heard, such as Jane
Nakatani still believes that

In the story, the Nakatanis tried to live the American

Dream, in Los Gatos, California, while following
their cultural values. Coming from an Asian
background where couples were seen as man and
wife, being gay was seen as a disgrace in families
and could not be tolerated. The eldest son Glen
was the quietest. He hid his sexuality from his
family, but once it came out, he was forced to leave
his home and was disowned by his father. He then
joined the military and after a couple years had
gone by, the family received news that their son had
passed away after contracting HIV and AIDS. The
second son, Greg Nakatani, was the only straight
son among the three Nakatani brothers. During
Gregs childhood a neighborhood boy kept picking
on him and instead of encouraging Greg to walk
away, his father asked Greg, Can you take him?
When Greg agreed he could, his father walked him
over to the neighborhood boys home. Before
reaching the house, Greg, already ahead of his
father, started throwing punches at him. This
resulted into Gregs violent background. As the
years go by, Greg soon became an adult. However,
it was very tragic what happened later on in his life.
His Hispanic friend had taught him a new swear
word in spanish, and after getting into a fight with a
Hispanic man, Greg used the word and was shot
and killed. The last son was named Guy Nakatani.
Guy also expressed his sexuality towards his family
and his friends. When he also been in contact with
HIV and AIDS, he wanted to spread the word by
having a speech about the disease in his high
school (Saratoga High School). This became very
emotional and inspirational, which gave his father
some honor. In conclusion, all three of the brothers
had died, but the father later agreed with each of
them after Guys inspirational speech.

Novel Notes
Honor Thy
Children
By:
Molly Fumia
Rodrick Alberto

Historical Context
Since the book was non-fictional, Molly Fumia
written Honor Thy Children in the late 1990s
(published in 1997). Based on Jane Nakatani, she
moved to America because her parents wanted her
to live the American Dream, or to become great
Americans. This took place all the way back in the
1970s. For her, it was very difficult, considering that
everyone recognized her as F.O.B (Fresh Off the
Boat) because of the looks, her accent, and
anything thats different than the United States. She
was glad that her sons had different characteristics
that had showed their own identity. So, the historical
context wanted to show how Japanese people
blending in with Americans.

January 11, 2015

Essential Quotes
...she repeated,sobbing and gasping for air
between the words, pulling Alexander around to
face her and gripping his face with her hands
(Fumia 73).
Youre okay, youre lovedthe thought of being

able to say these things to kids was so

overwhelming, I just broke down and cried
(266).
Work Cited Page:
Fumia, Molly. Honor Thy Children: One Family's
Journey to Wholeness. Berkely, CA: Conari,
1997. Print.

Character Analysis

Alexander Nakatani - Father of the Nakatani Family.

Actions of Alexander has been always strict,
considering kicking out his first son out of the house
after the age of fifteen.

Jane Nakatani - Mother of the Nakatani Family. Her

tone of voice seems to be always scared by always
crying when each of their sons died. Her thoughts
are always on the sons, thinking that theyre always
with her.

Glen Nakatani - The oldest out of the three

brothers. His actions seems very shy when it comes
to being in public, such as not taking a shower with
other boys in school. After Glen expressed his true
sexuality, Alexander Nakatani, his father, felt
disgusted and thought that it had brought dishonor
to his family. After that incident, he was forced to
move out of the house and live with his
grandparents.

Guy Nakatani - The youngest out of the three

brothers. His looks want to change from being a
Japanese person to an American. He disliked his
culture, so he bought new clothes, had a perm, and
dated white girls (anything to get rid of his culture)
to look as if he was born in the United States.
Effects on other people, especially for the ladies,
brought a lot of attention, since he thinks hes
considered gay.

Greg Nakatani - The middle child out of the three

brothers. Greg looks muscular out of both Guy and
Glen. His actions are very violent, considering that
he took out one of his neighbors for being
obnoxious. Effects on other people makes them feel
scared or uneasy.

Themes

Motifs and Symbols

Cultural Values:

Death - Motif

In Honor Thy Children, Alexander and Jane

Nakatani moved to the United States. They realized
how hard it mustve been to act like Americans
while still having their Japanese cultures beside
them, such as not crying in public,not bringing any
shame to the family, etc.. At first, Alexander
Nakatani, the father of the family, didnt appreciate
how Glen expressed to his family that he was gay.
Since he thought that it didnt bring any honor to the
family, he was forced to kick Glen out of the house.
Overtime, he realized that he needed to appreciate
his sons choices. However, it seems as though it
was too late for an apology. This brings a lesson to
appreciate to love their sons, for who they are

Death could see as a pattern of the Nakatani kids

dying. First off, Greg Nakatani dies from being shot
near a taco stand after being taught new swear
words from his Hispanic friend. Then, Glen
Nakatani dies with HIV and AIDS, as well as Guy
Nakatani also dying with AIDS. In Honor Thy
Children, the author repeats the pattern of all the
Nakatani brothers dying.

Honor - Symbols

After the Nakatani boys have died, Alexander and

Jane Nakatani didnt show any feelings of
themselves showing any emotion of sadness. This
brought a lot of attention to the audience, wondering
why they werent sad. From their point of view, they
say that the spirit of their sons make them have
Based off of Glen and Guy Nakatani, both of them
honor, especially for the father because of thinking
suffered from having AIDS (unprotected sex). By
how Glen, one of the sons, who first expressed that
testing HIV+, only time knew when their time is up.
he was gay. These death symbolizes the honor and
These disease can show how quickly people can be respect the family virtues.
killed, no matter what the age limit is, anyone could
be killed from any kind of disease, such as cancer,
or the smallest cold. Not only diseases, but objects
can kill you, like Greg from a gun. This shows how
these people, and everyone else, needs to be
careful with their surroundings and take care of
themselves.

Diseases and Death: