Richard Kims Lost Name Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Richard Kims Lost Name - Essay Example Korean echoes the boy’s worries about the changes he sees at school. The Koreans are confused about the new set of practices the Japanese authorities subject them to. Their only option is to subject to their masters. The Koreans were forced to renounce their names. Instead, they took up new Japanese names. This is something that does not go well with the Korean people. They have a feeling that the ancestors must be angry about the change of names. They must be angry that the colonizers are stealing their cultural identity. At one point, the narrator’s father takes the young boy to the cemetery so that they can ask the ancestors to forgive them for humiliation- the dropping of the ancestral names (Kim, 6). The Koreans underwent tough and painful times under the Japanese rule. Colonization led to the loss of cultural heritage among the Korean people. Their nationality was the destroyed-a painful experience that they must live with. The boy, in Lost Name, says, "my new nam e, my old name, my true name, my not-true name?" (Kim, 57). This quote illustrates the confusion that the Koreans have after their colonial masters change their names. The colonization also came with civility. The Koreans were required to attend school; they improved infrastructure; Korea became more industrialized; urban centers grew and the economy improved. These are the positive aspects of the colonization. Political analysts argue that, despite the high handedness and brutality used by the colonizers on the Koreans, Korea became financially stable and prosperous than it was some decades back (Kim, 89). The Koreans responded by minor protests but these were thwarted by the Japanese military who crushed any dissidents. Most of them failed to adapt their new names; instead preferring their ancestral names. They considered their culture superior to any other. They fought to protect their cultural heritage and regain their lost pride.