A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee tells the story of a man with a slippery character. Known to his neighbors as “Doc,” Franklin Hata is a friendly face around town, always maintaining a respectful and determined distance. He assimilates to the people of Bedley Run with calm and grace, but his peers can tell that there is more to his past, where he comes from and where he comes from, than he lets on. Between flashbacks and reflections, Lee weaves a narrative that explores the experiences and actions of a humble Japanese immigrant in America. To try to move forward, Hata must erase part of her past, her origins and her identity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay After leaving his biological parents, Hata dissolves all evidence of his Koreanness, abandoning the language and his Korean name—given to him by "the tanners," as he calls them—and adopting the name and lifestyle of his new Japanese family He works hard to prove himself worthy of their sponsorship and immerses himself in their culture and upbringing, reborn into a new life, where his past never existed. Koreans are treated as second-class citizens, Hata renounces his native identity, burying his origins under his complacency towards his new culture. When he enlists in the Imperial Japanese Army, he becomes a servant of the nation. his identity becomes synonymous with that of the troupe, and no longer his own, even if he maintains the Japanese facade - because it presents him as more "acceptable", offers more credibility to his peers. Likewise, afterwards. having settled in Bedley Run after the war, he tries to embody “normal” American nuclear life as best he can; moves into a nice house, adopts a daughter (whom he hopes will pass as his own), and tries to complete his family with a wife, Mary Burns. His painful experiences during the war are left aside, any history with the Imperial Army erased from his being as outwardly as he can manage. It is in this way that Hata finds himself systematically and completely changing his character with each new phase of his life. He shapes his being to better meet the expectations and intentions of the people around him, erasing all the parts of him that lag behind him - the ones that don't fit the mold. It's the only way he knows how to be. Hata's desire to erase parts of her being extends to others as well, when their history seems to get in the way of her own; when their interactions with him reflect badly on his character. Lee draws several parallels in Hata's life that revolve around conflicting ideas about abortion and rebirth that illustrate her quickness to shed thoughts of "bad" character. To erase something before it begins, or perhaps before you realize it exists, and return to creation, born again, different - like Hata, starting his life again by looking back on his past. The most striking example lies in the parallel between Sunny and K, and Hata's role in each of their lives. During war, passivity is Hata's defining characteristic; he is just a mere spectator in the middle of a conflict that depends a lot on his position. Due to his lack of action when action is called for, K is tragically maimed; her little fetus, full and perfect, is torn from her womb and thrown onto the grass, never to be born. Years later, he pushes Sunny to have a late-term abortion despite her hesitation and reconsideration; he actively convinces the doctor to carry out the procedure, even acting as the surgeon's assistant and operating invasively.