When My Name When Was Keoko Mrs. Davis
Chapter Notes
Chapter 1 – Sun-hee (1940)
Ø Main characters are Sun-hee (10 years old), Tae-yul (13 years old), Abuji (father), Omoni (mother), Uncle
Ø Story is set in Korea in 1940
Ø The Japanese took over Korea in 1910
Ø We learn that the Japanese want to completely take away Korean culture and that they have implemented many laws for Koreans. A few are listed:
§ All school lessons are in Japanese
§ Japanese & Korean children are in separate classes
§ Newspapers are printed in Japanese
§ Koreans can’t study Korean history or tell folktales
§ Koreans must learn & speak Japanese
§ Korean flag can’t be posted anywhere
Ø We also identify men and women’s roles in society. Men are in business, women are at home.
Chapter 2 – Tae-yul
Ø Sun-hee and Tae-yul and all Koreans must take Japanese names
Ø Uncle is outraged about this new law, but Abuji is calm and takes time to think
Ø Abuji chooses the last name Kaneyama which means gold mountain
Ø Each character chooses a letter randomly to determine his or her first name
Chapter 3 – Sun-hee
Ø Sun-hee remembers the family sitting around listening to the Olympic Games on the radio when she was six. The Korean runner won, but the official announced him as a Japanese runner with a Japanese name.
Ø Sun-hee had a dream in which her uncle was beaten (foreshadowing)
Chapter 4 – Tae-yul
Ø Uncle comes home and he has been beaten because he changed the flag and athlete’s name in the newspaper talking about the Olympic victory.
Ø Uncle draws the Korean flag for Sun-hee and Tae-yul, who have never seen it. He tells them to always remember the flag and that one day, it will fly again.
Chapter 5 – Sun-hee
Ø Sun-hee explains Korean & Japanese names in this chapter, and she explains the Japanese alphabets and system of writing, Kanji.
Ø Sun-hee (a.k.a. Keoko) excels at Japanese, so some of her classmates pick on her and call her “chin-il-pa” which means “lover of Japan.”
Ø Abuji tells Sun-hee that the Japanese borrowed elements of language and Kanji from China just like Korea did, so she should not feel bad about doing well in school. She is not chin-il-pa.
Chapter 6 Tae-yul (1941)
Ø We learn that Tae-yul does not like school, and he only does well enough to pass.
Ø He likes mechanical things and working with his hands.
Ø Tae-yul is more like Uncle while Sun-hee is like Abuji.
Ø Tae-yul finishes up his bicycle project.
Chapter 7 – Sun-hee
Ø Sun-hee’s family hears news of a war in Europe involving a man named Hitler.
Ø Rice supplies for the family are low because the Japanese take most of their rice to feed the Japanese army fighting China in a war of their own.
Ø The Japanese order all Rose of Sharon trees, a national symbol of Korea, be dug up and burned. They are to be replaced with Japanese Cherry Blossom trees.
Ø Omoni has Sun-hee and Tae-yul dig up one Rose of Sharon tree to keep hidden in hopes that she will be able to plant in again one day.
Ø We also learn that Sun-hee has the required short hairstyle the Japanese have outlined for all girls.
Chapter 8 – Tae-yul
Ø Under the Japanese government, Koreans can’t get loans so many Korean businesses are failing and being sold to Japanese buyers.
Ø Uncle and Abuji are arguing about something that Sun-hee and Tae-yul are not sure about. Abuji is worried about something, and he does not agree with what Uncle is doing.
Ø Uncle begins welcoming Japanese customers at his print shop, and we start to wonder if he is chin-il-pa.
Chapter 9 – Sun-hee
Ø Sun-hee introduces her friend, Jung-shin (they play the string game together)
Ø Sun-hee and her friend visit Uncle, who acts strangely after he learns that Jung-shin’s father works at the bank. He scans the street nervously.
Ø Tae-yul announces that the Japanese attacked America (1941). Abuji fears that hard times are ahead for Koreans.
Ø After Sun-hee meets Tomo in his yard, we understand that he likes her. He lets her hold the airplane and he tries to make her feel better.
Ø Sun-hee and all of the other school children have to watch a movie at school that shows “what Americans are like.” The movie is a cowboy western in which cowboys are shooting Native Americans. The school used it as propaganda to scare the children into thinking that Americans hate and kill people with dark hair.
Chapter 10 – Tae-yul (1942)
Ø 1942 – Tae-yul sees an airplane for the first time and is scared at first, but then he was fascinated
Ø The war was going well for the Japanese & life was happier and even better for the Koreans for now.
Chapter 11 – Sun-hee
Ø Japan enacts new laws for Koreans including required neighborhood associations. There are 10 families in each associate and they must be ready in a moment’s notice to assemble in the street in case of wartime emergencies.
Ø Mrs. Ahn is an elderly neighbor who is all alone. She is beaten in this chapter because she doesn’t know Korean, and she cannot count to six when she is called upon in the neighborhood association meeting.
Ø Omoni and Sun-hee help Mrs. Ahn after the beating, and Sun-hee teaches her to count to five in Japanese. Mrs. Ahn doesn’t want to know more because all she had left was her thoughts and she would not give the Japanese anymore than five numbers.
Chapter 12 – Tae-yul (1942-1943)
Ø Students got a rubber ball at school. Tae-yul saw this for what it was: a bad deal. The Japanese took everything from the Koreans, and all they got was a toy ball.
Ø Tae-yul’s friend’s brother had been forced to join the Japanese military.
Ø The Japanese took away all of the radios, blankets, and warn clothing (to send to the war effort).
Ø Two Japanese guards took away Tae-yul’s bicycle, and Tae-yul was mad at Abuji for doing nothing. (Although, we understand that Abuji probably just saved his son from something bad like a beating or prison.)
Chapter 13 – Sun-hee
Ø Sun-hee knew that something was wrong with Tae-yul. He was mad and sad, and every time he was around Abuji, things were tense. Then she saw him walking to school and she knew what was wrong…his missing bicycle.
Ø Uncle was always working, and he acted even more strangely than before. He was very secretive and nervous.
Ø Sun-hee meets Tomo in the street one day on her way to Uncle’s and she understands that he is trying to warn her about her uncle.
Ø Sun-hee runs to her uncle and she gives him the warning. He is ready and has a plan, which surprises Sun-hee.
Ø Uncle hugs Sun-hee and tells her how proud that he is of her. Uncle tells her to get Tae-yul to tell her all that he has told him. He tells her that she acted bravely and he says good-bye to Sun-hee, sending her home.
Chapter 14 – Tae-yul
Ø Sun-hee tells her parents that Uncle had left. Her parents do not act surprised. Abuji says that they do not know anything thanks to her Uncle and that no one should leave the house.
Ø Sun-hee told her brother about the meeting with Tomo. Tae-yul tells Sun-hee that Uncle was working with the underground Korean resistance to print Korean newspapers and that he was only pretending to be chin-il-pa to avoid suspicion.
Ø Tae-yul says that Uncle’s work is important to keep the Korean culture alive under Japan’s rule because if they win, there won’t be any Korean culture.
Ø There was a neighborhood accounting meeting at night, which is odd. The Japanese want to collect all metal from the families for the war effort.
Ø Tae-yul gets angry at Sun-hee because he feels like she warned him for nothing and made him leave for no reason. There is no sign of trouble yet.
Chapter 15 – Sun-hee
Ø Sun-hee feels extremely guilty for misunderstanding Tomo and his warning about the metal. She feels responsible for Uncle leaving, although we think it would have had to happen sooner or later.
Ø Abuji tries to make her feel better by telling her that he would have had to escape at some point, and if he hadn’t made it out in time, he could have been beaten or worse.
Chapter 16 – Tae-yul
Ø There is another neighborhood accounting. The Japanese announce that there is a traitor among them. They have found out about Uncle.
Ø The police take Abuji in for questioning. Everyone is worried because Abuji is gone so long and they fear for his safety.
Ø Abuji comes home unharmed because he did not know anything about Uncle. Uncle did the family a favor by not telling them anything about the resistance.
Ø Guards are posted at Sun-hee’s home watching the family and following them.
Ø Tae-yul misses his Uncle and has so many questions about him.
Ø The Japanese announce that they are going to build an airstrip outside of town. Tae-yul volunteers to help work to build it. Abuji agrees to let him work on the airstrip and put his studies off until it is finished. (His studies are important to Abuji, but he is just learning about Japanese culture and serving the empire.)
Ø Work on the airstrip is much harder than Tae-yul expected, but he is still excited about planes.
Chapter 17 – Sun-hee (1943-1944)
Ø The only news that Koreans got was from the Japanese, meaning that it could be censored!
Ø At school, Sun-hee must collect rocks and make bamboo weapons and practice for fighting. Students were expected to fight American soldiers if needed.
Ø Koreans were not Japanese no matter what; they wanted America to win the war. Would Americans know the difference between Koreans and Japanese?
Ø Leaflets were dropped from American planes. Sun-hee & Tae-yul both hid one for Abuji to read. The paper said that America knew that Koreans were not their enemies and that Korea would not be bombed. The note was from General MacArthur.
Ø Sun-hee starts writing in a diary for Uncle, to let him know what happens while he is gone.
Ø 1944 – Classes stop and everyone prepares for the war. Girls 16 and older are chosen to go to Japan to “work in a factory in Japan to make clothes for soldiers,” but Sun-hee and Tae-yul do not believe this.
Ø Jung-shin’s sister, Hee-won, is chosen to go to Japan then put back in line. Sun-hee thinks that it is because Jung-shin’s family is chin-il-pa. Jung-shin always plenty of rice, new clothes, new things…it must be true.
Chapter 18 – Tae-yul
Ø Soldiers bust into the family’s courtyard at night to look for Korean writings, but all that they find is Sun-hee’s diary. The guard thought it was junk.
Ø Tae-yul remembers the story of their grandfather. He was a scholar for the royal court and very proud of his top knot and jade scholar pin. Japanese soldiers came to his house one night to take his pin and they cut his hair. Uncle was little and Abuji was not there to do anything. In the courtyard tonight, Tae-yul also did nothing just like Uncle and his father. He finally realizes that there is nothing that could be done and he understands his father’s helplessness in this situation and the one with his bicycle.
Chapter 19 – Sun-hee
Ø Sun-hee felt proud about owning up to the ownership of the diary. When the officers the previous night had about it, she said that it was hers without hesitating.
Ø Abuji said that he was sorry about her diary being burnt, but that the Japanese could take the paper and destroy it but they could never take her thoughts.
Ø Sun-hee hopes that the Americans will win the war because that means freedom for Koreans.
Ø “If words weren’t important, they wouldn’t try so hard to take them away.” (p. 107)
Chapter 20 – Tae-yul
Ø There was another neighborhood accounting meeting where the Japanese guard told a story about Japanese kamikaze pilots. Tae-yul was fascinated with the story. He was impressed that pilots would be so brave that they would be willing to die to help win the war.
Ø Tae-yul talks to a Japanese guard about the kamikaze pilots and we get the idea that he is very interested in the military.
Chapter 21 – Sun-hee (1945)
Ø Sun-hee thinks that there is nothing beautiful left because of the war. She tries extra hard to think of beautiful things and funny things her uncle would say to make her happy.
Ø Jung-shin wouldn’t speak to Sun-hee at school because she was ashamed of her chin-il-pa family, but Sun-hee tried to still be her friend; it wasn’t Jung-shin fault.
Ø Tae-yul wants to speak to Abuji alone one night to tell him that he joined the Imperial Japanese Army and that he was leaving for training tomorrow.
Ø Abuji is furious at Tae-yul and Omoni is hysterical and sad. Sun-hee is also mad and sad because of the fact that Tae-yul could die in the war.
Ø Tae-yul says that the Japanese are losing the war anyway and that he will not cause them to win. He will, however, be helping his family because they will get more food and nicer clothes if he enlists.
Ø Sun-hee leaves the house upset, but Tae-yul goes after her to tell her that he knows that Uncle is still alive and still working for the resistance.
Chapter 22 – Tae-yul
Ø Tae-yul is taken from the airstrip and “asked” to go with a policeman in a car to town. He is taken to the police station where he meets with an officer about his uncle.