Scenes from a Korean Boyhood is a wonderful book about the Japanese invasion and occupation of Korea from the early to mid-20th century. The novel is told from the perspective of a young boy and his family who remain nameless for much of the story. The lack of names, though maybe not evident at first to a reader, and the renaming of many of the citizens from Korean to Japanese names plays a vital role in the novel. As a thematic element and a metaphor for a sense of nationalism, it is of vital importance to the narrator who uses repetitious phrases throughout the novel to mourn the loss of his name.