To Kill A Mockingbird Naota's Identity

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Naota represents japan on the edge of a new period of maturation (Lunning 7). He is innocent and new to the adult world. Being a blank slate means that he has the potential to be anything. The formation of his identity is being affected by the other characters. Naota just like japan is being pulled in many directions by the other characters and the aspects of history, modernity and future that they each represent. As the series progresses each character ultimately helps Naota discover an aspect of adulthood helping him realize his own identity. The two characters that have the strongest influence on Naota are Haruko and Tasuku. Tasuku is a character that never actually appears in the series. Before the first episode he had already left Japan …show more content…

His actions resulted in Naota and Mamimi, his ex-girlfriend, feeling abandoned and empty. To remember, and in a sense imitate, his brother Naota carries his brother’s bat around. This shows that Naota longs for his brother he had lost his role model and is now lost, that is until he meets Haruko. As stated before Haruko is the catalyst for the series. She is the reason why everything occurs and without her Naota’s growth would not have been possible. She is an alien searching the galaxy for an intergalactic being named Atomsk. In her search she runs into Naota (literally running into him with her scooter) and finds that he may be the key to finding Atomsk. By hitting him with her scooter and her bass Haruko turns Naota’s head into a channel that she believes Atomsk will escape through. Seeing Naota as an important asset in obtaining her goal she decides to stay with him. This inadvertently provides Naota with a new role model and a new love interest. (add left hand thing) …show more content…

From her pink hair to her Italian Vespa nothing about Haruko seems Japanese. It is her foreignness that opens up Naota’s view and allows him to do things he’d never dreamed of. Similar to Tasuku, Naota becomes enchanted by the foreign aspects that he sees from Haruko, yet unlike Tasuku Naota doesn’t abandon his culture. The conflict Naota face from Tasuku’s leaving; was whether he should discard his initial culture to adopt a new potentially better one. It was his time with Haruko that showed him that adopting a new culture isn’t the only way to accept a foreign influence. She showed him instead that influences can be added to one’s identity to expand and enrich them. The argument of adoption versus adaptation shown through the characters is

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