Ying He

In Cynthia Kadohata’s new novel, A Place to Belong, she employs the third-person narrative perspective to tell the story of Hanako, a Japanese-American girl who is repatriated to Japan after World War II and embarks on a journey to find her identity. With Hanako’s growth journey as the main storyline, it reflects the process of Japanese-Americans seeking self-identity during that time. This article will explore the diverse expressions of modern writers in multicultural context, with Cynthia Kadohata as an example, through three aspects of narrative techniques in New Realism: “Writing degree zero”, non-traditional ethnic writing, and psychological realistic narration. It aims to explore the new perspectives that works themed around “love, family, hope” and other topics, presented in a gentle tone in ethnic minority literature.

New Realism; Cynthia Kadohata; A Place to Belong; Identity

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