This novel was one that I enjoyed. Doc Hata is a character that could very well be the old man living next door. The struggles and events that he went through seemed to be ones that could happen to anyone, they were realistic. Hata is recounting his life through the novel, his relations with a woman named Mary Burns, his daughter Sunny, and his time while being in Korea for the war. And while he seemed like a good-hearted, genuine man, I couldn't help but dislike him from the core of my being for more than one reason.
The first reason that I disliked him was because though Doc Hata was nice to people it seemed he thought he was better than his acquaintances. Doc Hata was a well-mannered man who was courteous to everyone when talking to them, even while thinking of them he thought good natured things. However, it was in the way he thought about them that made me dislike him. Doc Hata, to me, seemed like he was always looking down on those around him. I especially noticed this perspective when he was reminiscing about his days in the war. "When I was a young man, I didn't seek out the pleasure of women. At least not like my comrades in arms, who in their every spare moment seemed ravenous for any part of a woman, in any form, whether in photograph or songs or recounted stories, and of course, whenever possible, in the flesh" (pg. 153). The way with which he describes his comrades lusting after women shows an air of pretentiousness coming from Hata. He is the one who did not seek that out, whereas those ravenous men sought after it every moment they were awake. Although Hata later confesses that he too had visited a prostitute, so in reality he was no better than them, he just didn't make his lust apparent to those around him.
This pompous nature isn't only evidenced towards his comrades but it's also apparent in his relationship with his daughter. At first, Hata is very glad to have a daughter, he fights for her when he gives extra money to the adoption agency. But when he finally has her in his home the relationship he has with her never quite reaches his expectations and this leads him to be distant from her, but I'll talk about that a little later. Because he was distant, Sunny lashed out and behaved in a way that he most certainly did not approve of. It seemed that he was only ever present in her life when she had made a mistake and he wanted to clean it up to make sure that the appearance they had, of having a nice little family, didn't dissipate because of her actions. Doc Hata was someone everyone looked at as a picture perfect man with the perfect house and he couldn't have a less than perfect daughter to ruin that image. I noticed this especially when he was talking about taking Sunny for the abortion: "When she came out of the train the first thought that came to me was that it was a Sunday and quiet, when there was hardly anyone about, and that I ought to spirit her to the private clinic and to Dr. Anastasia as quickly as possible" (pg. 339). Why was he so glad that no one was around? So that no one could see how much of a screw-up his daughter was. He was willing to do anything to have that abortion happen even though Sunny was so far into term. "I am willing to do everything I can to have you help my daughter. This is not to insult your professionalism but only to make clear how resolved I am. And I am resolved. We are desperate, sir, and I will do all I can to get her out of this trouble" (pg. 343). The only reason he seemed to have been desperate was because his reputation was in danger. He didn't seem to truly care about what his daughter wanted or even the life of the child growing within her.
Another reason that I disliked him was because of the way he treated his daughter. True, he said he only wanted the best for her, but in desiring that he pushed her away from him. He never allowed her to be the daughter he longed for. On page 28 Hata is recalling a conversation he had with Sunny one day when she was little where she was practicing the piano but he had not heard because he was vacuuming: '"Would you play some of them again?" "Okay. But can I help you now?" "No dear," I said to her, trying to stay the throbbing in my hand, my arm. "Why don't you play some more? Your teacher wishes that you practice more than you do. You must push yourself. It may be difficult for you to see, but even great talent is easily wasted." "Yes." "Sunny?" "Yes," she said, folding the lacy hem of her green dress for sunday school, where I would take her in the afternoon. "Please leave the living room doors open, so the music can travel. And, Sunny?" "Yes." "You should do what we talked about last week. About you addressing me." "Yes, Poppa."' He had wanted a special relationship with his daughter, he expected her to call him Poppa, and to converse with him, but yet when she tried to spend time and build that connection with him, he pushed her away. This scene, to me, was her reaching out saying "I want to spend time with you. Even if it is cleaning, I want to get to know you." And yet all he did was push her away.
Assuming that Doc Hata was genuinely interested in having a child, his measures to adopt one were understandable. He states later though that as soon as he saw Sunny for the first time he knew that his high hopes for a good family were dashed. "I had assumed the child and I would have a ready, natural affinity, and that my colleagues and associates and neighbors, though knowing her to be adopted, would have little trouble quickly accepting our being of a single kind and blood. But when I saw her for the first time I realized there could be no such conceit for us, no easy persuasion... And perhaps it was right from that moment, the very start, that the young girl sensed my hesitance, the blighted hope in my eyes" (pg. 204). He never even gave Sunny a chance to have a relationship with him. From the moment he met her he had his mind made up that they would not have a good relationship. And she could sense that in him.
There were some redeeming qualities in him, though, that were more apparent towards the end of the novel when he began respecting Sunny and not condemning her. He had always treated Sunny as a young woman and that lead to a lot of problems between them as she was growing up, but towards the end of the novel she was finally the age that he had been treating her and now they could get along. Hata knew that he had messed up when she was little and because of that he was willing to respect her decisions more to try and repent for his mistakes. Seeing that he was genuine in repenting, Sunny began to let him into her life and her son's life more and more. And they way that he loved that little boy, Thomas, made me think that maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all.
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