No-No Boy Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter 1 Summary

Chapter 1 Summary

A Japanese-American boy named Ichiro, released after two years in prison, and two years in exile before that, is going to his parents' home, a house he has never visited. He was imprisoned because he refused to volunteer for the Army unless his parents could be together in the same relocation camp. Walking from the bus depot, he meets a man he had known before Pearl Harbor. His name is Ito and he asks Ichiro to have a drink with him, but Ichiro is in a hurry to see his parents after a four-year absence. Ito, a white contemporary, spits on his hand when Ichiro refuses to have a drink with him.

As Ichiro walks on with his small suitcase, he passes a pool parlor where some Negroes call him names, and say, "Go back to Tokyo, boy."

As he arrives at the store that fronts his parents' small home,...
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