I Am . . . ?

Part I of Essay
But it is not enough to be American only in the eyes of the law and it is not enough to be only half an American and know that it is an empty half. I am not your son and I am not Japanese and I am not American . . . . I wish with all my heart that I were Japanese or that I ....

Part II of Essay
.... was not an easy life. Especially considering the time period in which the novel takes place: Post World War II. Many Japanese-Americans were forced to make a choice at this time: Fight and possibly die for a country that would show them no respect anyway, or choose not to fight and be hated and despised, as well as unrespected. This choice given to the Japanese-American’s was in essence a “catch 22.” Although Ichiro was an American by blood, to him, “it [was] not enough to be American only in the eyes of the law” (Okada 16). In other wo ....