Draft:The Name Jar

• Comment: While this sounds like a lovely book, the article needs to be written in a dry, detached, encyclopedic way. As it is, it sounds promotional and like the editor has added in some of their own interpretations of the book. -- NotCharizard ^🗨 09:42, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

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The Name Jar is a children’s picture book written and illustrated by Korean-American artist. Yangsook Choi. It was published October 14, 2003 by Random House Children’s Books. The story follows Unhei, a young Korean girl who just moved to America and is starting a new school. The children on the bus and at school struggle to pronounce Unhei’s unique name, making her feel as if she does not belong. To fix this issue, the other kids make a name jar for Unhei, filling it with all their favorite American names for her to pick from. By the end of the story, she realizes with the help of those around her that she does not need a new American name to belong.

The Name Jar

The cover of The Name Jar
Author	Yangsook Choi
Illustrator	Yangsook Choi
Cover artist	Yangsook Choi
Language	English
Genre	Children's Picture Book
Publisher	Random House Children's Books
Publication date	October 14, 2003
Publication place	United States
Pages	40
ISBN	978-0-440-41799-6

Yangsook Choi is a Korean author who grew up in Seoul, South Korea and moved to the United States in 1991 in order to pursue her passions of writing and drawing. Choi grew up telling and creating stories, this hobby ultimately led her to her career as an author. She wrote The Name Jar based on personal experiences and the goal of her story was to relate to immigrant children and educate others on diverse cultures.

The Name Jar is recognized for its influential message despite being a seemingly simple children’s book. The Chicago Public Library named it the “best of the best” and it is present in a multitude of libraries and bookstores. The detailed, close up illustrations are praised for their addition to Choi’s writing and the way they show Korean culture. It is a recommended book for all young children as it allows for readers to relate to all characters in the book, no matter how they identify.

Plot Summary

A young Korean girl and her family have just moved to America and are beginning to start their lives in a new place. Unhei, the young girl, attends a new school and begins to question her Korean name when the American children do not understand it. She decides she must come up with a new name that everyone will be able to pronounce.

Her class fills a jar with all their favorite names from books and their lives in order to help her discover a name that she likes best. The jar was filled with names such as Daisy, Tamela, and more, but none of them were true to Unhei. She struggles with her identity and loses herself through trying to fit in. She even stands in front of her mirror brushing her teeth trying out these new names, but each makes her more unhappy than the last.

Throughout the story, Unhei is reminded that her Korean name is beautiful and should be appreciated. Her grandmother gives her a name stamp and writes her a letter to help her visualize the beauty of her name. Her mother reminds her that they saw a name master, a Korean tradition for choosing names, to pick out her unique name. Joey, a boy in her class, makes Unhei feel as if she does not have to change who she is by learning how to pronounce her real name and some of her Korean Culture. Mr. Kim, the owner of the Korean market where Unhei and her mother shop, reminds Unhei her name stands for 'grace' and is a meaningful Korea name. Mr. Kim also brings Korean culture into the story even more through his market and identity.

By the end of the story, Joey steals the so-called “name jar” and allows Unhei to embrace her name. She gains the confidence to tell the class that she likes her own name best, and teaches them the proper pronunciation. The illustrations throughout the story also add details and subtle hints to Korean culture to bring the reader closer to Unhei’s background and allow readers to visualize Unhei's steps of accepting her identity.

Themes

Identity

Identity is a major theme present throughout Yangsook Choi’s The Name Jar seen through the character Unhei. A child’s name is arguably where their identity starts. Children with cultural names that move to America often struggle with losing this core sense of who they are. According to Grit Alter, immigration already destabilizes children enough without their name being taken too. “While their surroundings are increasingly unsteady, they have to keep their names as one central feature of an inner stability…”. Unhei feels as if she needs to change her name and therefore who she is to fit into this new society. Kylie Milosevic, a reviewer of The Name Jar, mentions that the stamp Unhei receives from her grandmother of her name is a symbol of Unhei’s originality and reminds her that her name is a part of not only who she is, but who she is connected to.

Unhei begins to question who she is as she is told to pick a new name. It is not until the end of the book that she realizes she already has an identity and can embrace her own name because it fits her the best. Characters such as Unhei’s mother and Joey help her reach this realization by reminding Unhei where she came from and being the first to accept her Korean name. As Megan McCaffery states, “Name changes can have deeper implications beyond self; a name change can affect an individual’s family and cultural identity.” From the book, readers learn how important identity is not only to oneself, but to their family and culture.

Acceptance

The Name Jar is also a book based around the concept of acceptance. Not just self-acceptance from Unhei, but acceptance by others around her. The act of accepting and respecting differences within each individual occurs constantly throughout the book. As Amy Sanchez, a reviewer, states, "This book does a good job of helping Unhei celebrate her culture and be proud of her name and realize her differences make her unique." If Unhei had not accepted who she was, she would have spent her life in America attempting to be someone else. Unhei’s friend Joey helps her accept who she is and shows the importance of letting yourself be who you truly are. Joey represents the importance of having someone else first accept you for who you are so you can feel comfortable to accept yourself. He displays empathy in order to mend a broken gap between cultures.

Unhei is not the only character that reflects the idea of acceptance. The children in Unhei’s class are all taught to accept differences in their classroom starting with learning Unhei’s Korean name. Unhei felt her story was important to share even if no one wanted to listen. However, when Unhei decides to teach the class about her Korean name, they all listen and learn how to accept someone for who they are. According to Izzi, a Korean children's book reviewer, "Unhei must have felt it was important for her new friends to understand her culture. It wasn’t enough to be proud; Unhei wanted to share. Even if not everyone gets it, the effort is important and meaningful." Readers can take away the idea that accepting all cultural identities is an important part of a classroom setting and that acceptance is needed from all. This book is so influential because it focuses on letting the children of the story work through these ideas of identity and acceptance and allows readers to feel a part of the decision making processes.