Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood

When Japanese military police detain Mr. and Mrs. Kim at the Chinese border by, the couple misses their train into Manchuria and must make the dangerous crossing on foot over the frozen river. Thinking back to the crossing, Mrs. Kim reflects that she could not do it again. Kim reminds her, “But you can and you will […] And you have, many times since, if not crossing a frozen river on foot” (33). Crossing thin ice is a symbol of the struggles and dangers that Kim and his family face throughout the rest of the novel.

A staple food in Korea, white rice became scarce during Japanese occupation: Korean farmers had to sell their rice and other agricultural products at a discount to the Japanese. The Japanese mainland enjoyed the exploitation of Korean labor, leading to food shortages in Korea. In Lost Names, white rice becomes a symbol of wealth because only affluent Koreans or families well-off enough to have a stockpile are able to enjoy it under Japanese occupation, especially when World War II begins. Kim’s grandmother, a traditionally nurturing woman, insists upon giving Kim, the eldest boy in the family, white rice in his lunch.