Snooky and Kiyo by Matina Tryforos

All I Asking for Is My Body: Snooky and Kiyo

I saw the relationship between Kiyo and the teacher, Snooky as an analogy for the dilemma of being nisei in Hawaii during World War II. Snooky is the only teacher that opens the children’s mind and fosters independent thinking. He challenges the students to think for themselves when he asks them, “But is that all there is to life?...Becoming a cog in a money-making machine?...What about fresh air and freedom for the individual?...What about thinking for yourself?...Freedom means not being part of a pecking order. Freedom means being your own boss” (Murayama 34). As nisei, Kiyo and Tosh have to navigate preserving and respecting the tradition of their parent’s homeland while also fitting in with the culture and loyalties of their life-long home. It is significant that directly after Snooky talks to the kids Tosh and Kiyo contemplate the looming war. Japan and the U.S.A. were enemies, placing Tosh and Kiyo in a dangerous political  position. How can they simultaneously maintain loyalty to their parents’ homeland (Japan) and their homeland (annexed Hawaii)? The significance of Snooky’s questions are bigger than the plantation system the kids think he is talking about. The plantation system is a metaphor for the national conflict looming in the background: World War II.   

It was rumored that Snooky was a revolutionist in Spain (Murayama 96). As a revolutionist, Snooky also had to turn his back on the reigning government of his country. To turn your back on your own group is a difficult decision that can cause feelings of betrayal and guilt- one that Snooky was most likely trying to figure out when he taught the boys. As Kiyo struggles to decide whether or not he should join the Army’s nisei regiment or stay home and care for his parents, it is Kiyo’s advice and teachings he depends on. Joining the U.S. Army caused Kiyo so much guilt that he risked getting in trouble by gambling and winning enough money to pay off his parents’ debt. I believe Kiyo did that in an effort to rid himself of feelings of betrayal and guilt from disobeying his parents and on a larger scale, their home land by joining the U.S. Army. Paying off his parent’s debt while serving in the U.S. Army was his way of maintaining loyalty to Japan (and his parents) and his homeland of Hawaii.

~Matina Tryforos