Colonialism, by Aime Cesaire, and Lost Names:

¶ … Colonialism," by Aime Cesaire, and "Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood," by Richard Kim. Specifically, it will discuss how the novel describes different methods used by foreign or colonial powers to break the spirit of colonized peoples. What are those methods? What are their effects? Colonizers have often attempted to control and subjugate their colonies, but in the end, their dominance usually backfires, and the subjugated rise up to fight for their freedom and their own culture.

Colonial Powers and how They Break the Spirit

Colonialism is an antiquated idea that has nearly disappeared, but not so long ago it was still an accepted and even celebrated way for strong countries to vanquish the weak. Author Aime Cesaire called the practice "a receptacle into which there flow all the dirty waters of history" (Cesaire 45), and his description is quite apt, considering the sufferings most colonized subjects discuss after they have gained their freedom, and their sufferings were certainly not centered only on violence. The colonization of unwilling subjects, such as Japan's colonization of Korea certainly entails violence, but there are much more subtle ways to bend the colonials to the whims of the aggressors, as Kim's book poignantly illustrates. For example, the Japanese begin indoctrinating the young Koreans early by hanging the Japanese flag and propaganda slogans in their elementary school classrooms (Kim 31). Later, the Japanese break the spirit of the Koreans by taking what is theirs, and leaving them with little. The Japanese take the prevalent rice from the Koreans and send it back to Japan, leaving the Koreans hungry and bitter. Kim remembers, "White rice is scarce and expensive, not because the rice harvest is poor but because, now, our rice farmers are forced by law to sell their rice to the government at a cut-rate price; rice is then shipped to Japan, [...] leaving very little rice in Korea" (Kim 94). Thus, the colonials are deprived of their favorite food. This is only one small way the Japanese colonists subjugated their colonials without any violence, but certainly with the capacity to keep the colonials under Japan's very large thumb.

Japan takes over every aspect of the Koreans' lives, from the food they eat to the religion they must practice, and even their names. The children are given Japanese names, and are forced to worship at Japanese shrines. Even the Japanese in the country to teach are embarrassed by the tactics of their homeland. Kim's Japanese teacher finds the treatment "... unthinkable for one Asian people to another Asian people, especially we Asians who should have a greater respect for our ancestors...." (Kim 109). The Japanese used every form of persuasion and coercion they could to bring the Koreans under their "wing," even violence. However, violence was only part of the entire equation, and while it may have subjugated the most vocal dissent, there were many other ways to enslave and capture the people, and Japan seemed to use all of them, as this passage clearly shows. "And, suddenly - with a whish - the bamboo sword smashes my bottom, jolting me with a numbing blow that instantly shoots thousands of sharp needles of pain through my body, snapping it into an arch, flinging my head backward" (Kim 133). This is to a boy who will not admit he knows a Japanese Secret Policeman. Violence is only one way to control the colonials, but the Japanese used it as effectively as they used starvation, psychology, and religion to bow the Korean people to their will. Cesaire said these violent and dehumanizing practices showed the evils of colonization. He wrote,