Henry’s “I Am Chinese” Button Symbol Analysis

The “I Am Chinese” button that Henry’s father insists on wearing represents how complex and fluid identity is. Over the course of the novel, the button (or one like it) is worn by Henry, the racist school bully Chaz Preston, Henry’s father, Henry’s mother, and (indirectly) Keiko. At one point, Henry’s father even tries to force him to wear a similar button that says, “I’m An American.” The button is a tangible identity label, but over the course of the novel Henry learns firsthand how complex identity really is, and how much pain results from trying to oversimplify what it means to belong to a certain group. The button also speaks to how strained Henry’s relationship is with his father. Oversimplified identity is being forced on Henry on a societal level—he knows this well enough from people like Chaz who call him a “Jap” at school. But ultimately it is Henry’s father who forces him to wear the button, and thus Henry’s relationship to the button itself (which he wears as protection and takes off in disgust at various points at the novel) comes to symbolize his relationship to his father. Ultimately, Henry breaks free of his father, but it’s as painful as the moment when Henry gets the pin of the button jammed into the flesh of his hand.