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Hina Ikeda

Mr. Gates

7th Grade English

21 October 2016

Aspects of Identities - Family, Friends and Names

Identities are the most powerful way to make us, us. I discovered that family, friends and

names are the most important aspects for myself and for three books. In American Born Chinese

by Gene Luen Yang, The Samurais Tale by Erik Chistian Haugaard, and The Ghost in the

Tokaido Inn by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler. Finally, as I read through, there were many

important identities which were meaningful to us, and to the characters but I think family, names

and friends are the top important identities.

One of the important aspects of identities I explored is Family. All humans have family

and we wouldnt be alive if we dont have one. Parents influence children a lot. For example,

their appearances, talents, personalities, poverty, and social classes in the old days. In American

Born Chinese Jin-wang, the main character, had an issue about his appearance. His classmates

were using aggressive stereotypes to pick on Jin-wang. Jin-Wangs parents are Chinese, but he

was born in America. When he turned nine, his family moved out of Chinatown in San francisco

and he started to get teased by his classmates when he attend to Mayflower Elementary school.

He was the only asian looking boy in his class. (Yang, 30).Timmy said My momma says

chinese people eat dogs (Yang, 31). Also, in recess, Timmy offended Jin again by saying What

the hell is that?!(Yang, 32) to his food and said Hmph stay away from my dog He was

suffering from stereotypes because of his asian look. In The Samurais Tale, when samurais were

having a war. During the Sengoku Period, it was really hard to be a samurai for people who
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wasnt born in a samurai family. When Lord Akiyama was going to adopt Harumoto, Lord

Akiyama said He is truly the son of a samurai (Haugaard, 6). Deciding to make Taro be a

samurai. So, it explains that the social changes were related to family. In The Ghost in the

Tokaido Inn, it is opposite situation as in The samurais tale. The main character Seikei is

wishing to be a samurai. But it is really hard for seikei to be a samurai because none of his

family is a samurai. (Hoobler, 8). My own experience about family is that I feel the importance

of family often. When I went out of Korea and moved to fukuoka, my dad couldnt move with us

because he had to stay there for his job. Now, I am attending to an international school for almost

6 years now and I couldnt have attended to an international school if my parents werent from

different countries and I couldnt have spoke three languages without my family. Overall, Family

is our big influence that can make us feel positive or negative.

Another important aspect that I explored is names. We call people by names and names

are one of the big impressions to other people and ourselves too. Names can show our identity.

In American born chinese, Teachers were mispronouncing Wei chen and Jins names and people

were making fun of Jin-Wang and Wei-Chens name .(Yang, 30 and 36). When he transformed to

a person with blue eyes, blonde hair and white skin. as Jin wanted to be,American, he said A

new face deserved a new name. So, I decided to call myself Danny (Yang, 198). So, it means

that people changes their names considering their appearances. In The Samurais Tale after

Harumoto met Lord Akiyama, he gave Taro a new name to hide his identity that he is not born in

a samurai family. His name changed time by time, but his final name is Taro asked Why would

he not let me keep my own name? (Haugaard, 7) The soldier answered, Oh, if he did that you

might some day claim your right to this place It is always best to kill the whole family of your

enemies and leave no-one about. (Haugaard, 8) I experienced that lots of people like to make
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nicknames. If the persons name is too complicated for people to pronounce or to make fun of

people. I had a friend called Jung-Won but he was in an international school. Eventually, it was

hard for people to pronounce his name. As a result, he changed his name to James, to make

people find it easier to read and pronounce. Overall I think my experience were similar to

American Born Chinese. Finally, names can express our surroundings and identity about

ourselves.

My last aspect that I explored is Friends. Friends can inspire us in many ways and friend.

In american born chinese, Jin and wei-chen were both in an American school and were both

getting teased together. So, I think Jin started to feel glad after his new friend Wei-Chen came.

(Yang, 36). In The ghost in The Tokaido Inn, Seikei and judge Ooka have different social classes,

but judge Ooka encourages Seikei to find the robber. So it demonstrates us that friends can

encourage us. In The Samurais tale, Yoshitoki gave Taro a big hope and Yoshitoki was his first

friend to reveal all about himself to somebody. Harumoto told Yoshitoki about his crush and

Yoshitoki listened and helped him to get married by giving him more information about Lord

Zakoji and Aki-Hime. Yoshitoki said Lord Toyama was her third husband, I think. Three times

she has been married for the convenience of her nephew, Oda Nobunaga. This time she has made

her own choice, but whether it is for love or some other reason I cannot tell (Haugaard, 174).

Harumoto could only say that to his friend because friends are usually there to trust. For me, I

love friends. They will be always beside me. They will always help me and they make me

excited to do anything. I get energy, hope and risks from our friends which are the big parts in

our lives.

As I discovered lots of characters aspects. Looking at Family, names and Friends made

me explore more about aspects and identities. Friends, names, and families are not only identities
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that are important. There are lots and lots of different aspects of identity around this world. Also,

it helps us understand the story and the characters more. Knowing lots of identities helps us think

more about kinds of aspect of people around us and characters in many different books. At last,

combining lots of different aspects are what actually makes us, us.

Works Cited

Haugaard, Erik Christian. The Samurai's Tale. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984. Print.

Hoobler, Dorothy, and Thomas Hoobler. The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn. New York: Philomel,

1999. Print.
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Yang, Gene Luen., and Lark Pien. American Born Chinese. New York: First Second, 2006.

Print.