Gul Mohar English Class 6 Chapter - 4 A New Name

Gul Mohar Edition 9 Orient Blackswan

Gul Mohar English Chapter - 4 A New Name

Writer of the story - Linda Sue Park
Question and Answers
Question 1: I went around whispering over and over,” Keoko. Kaneyama Keoko. Keoko.” Why did the speaker whisper the name repeatedly? What did she think of the new name?
Answer: The speaker whispered the new name repeatedly to remember her new name because it was too long. She was very unhappy with the unfair law of taking Japanese names. She couldn’t think it as her own name.

Question 2: Did Sun-Hee find it easy to respond when she was call ‘Keoko’? Why or why not?
Answer: No, Sun-Hee did not find it easy to respond to her new name. She could not think of it as her name. Whenever someone called her Keoko, she felt as if they were talking to someone else and not to her.

Question 3: In what way were the family’s old and new names -
a) different from each other?
b) similar to each other?
Answer:
a) The family’s old name was Korean and their new name was Japanese.
b) The new Japanese name ‘Kaneyama’ meant ‘mountain of gold’ and was similar to the old Korean name ‘Kim’ which meant ‘gold’ and referred to a clan of people who used to live in the mountains of Korea.

Question 4: Why did the teacher have to punish Sun-Hee? How did she feel about doing so?
Answer: The teacher had to punish Sun-Hee because Onishi-san had ordered her to do so. She felt very unhappy about giving the girl such a harsh punishment for such a small mistake.

Question 5: Why do you think Sun-Hee did not want to forget the unfair manner in which she had been treated?
Answer: Sun-Hee did not want to forget the unfair manner in which she had been treated because forgetting would mean accepting the unjust way that she and her fellow citizens were being treated by the Japanese. She did not want to accept this unfair treatment and thus, chose not to forget.

Question 6: Best of all, I was too angry to cry… Why was the speaker angry? What reason did she have to cry? Why did she appear to feel proud of not crying?
Answer: The speaker was angry because she felt it was unfair that the names of the Korean people were taken away and they weren’t given any time to learn their new names. She was given a painful punishment in front of the whole class and therefore had a reason to feel angry and ashamed and that is why she cry. She appeared to be proud of not crying because she refused to be defeated by the cruel actions of those who were trying to oppress her and did not want to seem weak in front of them.

Question 7: Now we were both laughing. What caused the laughter? Were the people who were laughing doing so for the same reasons? Explain your answer.
Answer: The laughter was caused by Tomo forgetting, mispronouncing and then making fun of Sun-Hee’s Japanese name. No, the two were laughing for different reasons. Tomo was laughing at himself and at how funny the name sounded when he mispronounced it. However, Sun-Hee was laughing at the fact that she was making fun of a name that she disliked so much. She also enjoyed being able to do something to defy the Japanese authorities. Sun-Hee probably felt as if she was laughing not just at the name but at the law and at the Japanese themselves.

Question 8: Why did Sun-Hee convince Tomo to address her by her Japanese name even though she dislike it?
Answer: Sun-Hee convinced Tomo to address her by her Japanese name even though she disliked it because if she got confused and call her by the wrong name then both of them could get into trouble. Tomo, being the principal’s son could not be seen as someone who disobeyed Japanese Laws. Moreover, Sun-Hee’s experience as a Korean child and the punishment she received made her more aware of the dangers of being caught breaking the law.

Question 9: Tomo glanced at me quickly, and then looked away again. Why did Tomo seem unable to look the speaker in the eye? What does this tell you about how he feels about the name change?
Answer: Tomo was unable to look the speaker in the eye because, being Japanese himself, he felt ashamed at the way his people were treating the Koreans. Therefore, he probably also felt responsible in some way for the injustice that his friend had to face. His reaction tells us that he agreed that the forced name change was wrong.

Question 10: And I knew this was his way of saying he was sorry… Who was the speaker talking about? What did this person do to show that he was sorry?
Answer: The speaker was talking about Tomo. Tomo showed that he was sorry by acknowledging that the name change was a bad idea and caused unnecessary trouble for everyone. Even though he couldn’t do anything about the change, the fact that he understood and accepted that it was unjust, showed that he felt bad about what had happened.