52 pages • 1 hour read
Marie G. Lee, Marie Myung-Ok LeeNecessary Roughness
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1996A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Navigating Cultural Difference
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses racism.
A major theme in Necessary Roughness is the tension created when different cultures confront each other—in this case, when the Korean Kim family moves first to Los Angeles, then to Iron River, Minnesota. In Los Angeles, the family has a large and close-knit Korean community around them, but in Iron River, they are among the few people of color in a predominantly white community. Chan observes that he “never realized how bad [his father’s] English is” until they arrived in Minnesota (23), because in Los Angeles’s Koreatown, he was able to conduct most of his daily conversations in Korean. Now, forced to speak in English, Abogee’s responsible, dominant, tough negotiator persona falls away; in some ways, he is rendered helpless in this new place, creating internal and external struggles. Abogee struggles to face the new culture in front of him and tries to raise his children with traditional Korean values—one night Chan hears his father say, “If we were in Korea, [Chan] would never talk back to [me] like [he does]” (3). Chan resents his father’s position both because he is trying his best and because he knows what other American kids are allowed to get away with. Chan and Young experience the cultural tension daily, as outside their home they live American lives but come home to a Korean household. Young eventually explodes at her father and asserts that she, herself, is American, and wants to date like the average American high schooler. This is the central tension in their family: The children are American, and the parents are Korean. Ultimately, they are able to beautifully blend the two cultures, but they experience initial friction as they confront their differences.
The citizens of Iron River are unused to immigrants in their largely white community, and their prejudiced or ignorant reception of the Kims demonstrates a different kind of tension. The Kim family gets turned away from the two apartment complexes in town—while the Kims are left without a definitive explanation, the landlord’s comments imply that racism played a large role. Chan and Young face slurs and racist insults at school from kids who don’t see them as anything more than other. The discrimination they face at school for being different poses particular difficulty for Chan and Young because their parents criticize them for not being Korean enough. Neither Chan and Young’s home nor their school let them freely explore both cultures of which they are a part. Instead of cultural crossover allowing for new traditions and expanding identities, at first it only poses problems for the Kims.
The Difficulties of Coming of Age
Chan’s search for an identity throughout the book displays the difficulty of coming of age. He tries to be his own person both within and outside of his family, but he finds it especially difficult as he must navigate his father’s rigid expectations and the racism of his classmates. Chan faces a common adolescent conflict: His priorities have begun to clash with those of his parents (especially his father), and he is now forced to choose between his happiness and pleasing his parents. Football is the central example of this conflict throughout the book, and Chan knows that the love he has for sports is valuable to him even if his father doesn’t understand. As he angrily puts it, “[D]oesn’t talent extend beyond things you do with a pencil in your hand?” (70). If he bent to his father’s wish and gave up football, Chan would be disregarding something he’s good at, something that makes him happy. He decides that that is not a sacrifice he’s willing to make in exchange for peace with his father.
Though he faces racist bullying from some of his teammates from the beginning, Chan refuses to give up. His determination in football gives him the courage to rebel against Abogee, too. Back in Los Angeles, he would have bent to his father’s silent treatment, relenting to diffuse the situation. Here in Iron River, though, he feels quite differently and simply gives Abogee the silent treatment back, hoping Abogee will relent: “[T]ell me no if you mean no, I was thinking. Tell me to my face and give me a chance to argue my point” (67). While silent, this small rebellion shows Chan’s growing confidence in his convictions.
These disagreements also reveal a strength of character that Chan builds over the course of the book; he decides that, in the face of opposition, he will stand strong. The locker room incident in which Chan is attacked by three teammates is a prime example of this. Chan lets his pain drive him to work even harder in football. While Rom’s bullying and constant racist remarks do not make Chan who he is, they reveal who he is under pressure. Most of the time, Chan rises above his peers’ petty comments and continues to work hard, be himself, and succeed. Chan doesn’t always respond to bullying in a way he’s proud of—when he finally succumbs to Rom’s taunts over Taekwondo movies, he “somehow felt dirty, like [he]’d flashed everyone on a dare or something” (138)—but these missteps are a source of learning. When he lets his emotions drive his behavior, as he does here, he realizes that he’s not acting the way he’d like to. Chan’s inner monologue provides a view into how he overcomes the difficulties of coming of age, and in the end, rather than turning toward revenge and anger, he hones a level of maturity that will help him take on adulthood.
Chan also changes significantly in the realm of his romantic life; in LA, he was dissatisfied with not being able to date, but willing to sneak around with his girlfriend Sujin. For much of his time in Iron River, despite liking his girlfriend Rainey, he continues hiding the fact that he’s dating from his parents. After Young’s death, however, he finds the strength to stand up to his father, perhaps in part because Young’s last argument with her father was about being allowed to date. Chan puts his foot down when Abogee admonishes him for having Rainey over, and while they both say hurtful things in the ensuing fight, this action shows a change in Chan, one that is necessary for him to make his own choices and live a more honest life.
The Personal Impact of Faith
Necessary Roughness explores the topic of religion even through the eyes of a largely atheist character. The book doesn’t recommend any one faith, but it does emphasize the strength and wisdom that people can gain through having faith in something. The book begins with Chan in trouble for suggesting his family leave behind their Buddha statue; he had underestimated what the statue meant to his father. At this point, Chan has a linear view of religion—he thinks that because his family is Christian, they should not care about a Buddha statue. It does not occur to him that his father’s Christianity might include elements of Korea’s Buddhist traditions. Later, Abogee explains that “in this way all religions are supposed to coexist peacefully, even help each other” (214). Chan, while not practicing a religion himself, echoes this sentiment when Leland suggests the team pray before a game and Jimmi calls on Chan, the only other person of color, not to pray to “a white man’s god” (170). Instead, Chan agrees with the value of taking a moment as a team to pray, and figures that they’re all essentially praying to the “same guy—or whatever” (170).
Faith brings people closer together—Chan’s insight before the football game is that religions need not be mutually exclusive, and that they have a tangible value in people’s internal and external lives. For example, Leland’s faith motivates him to make a tribute to Young before the state championship game. Chan doesn’t necessarily believe in God (he even envies Leland’s unwavering faith), but he feels touched by the care Leland shows. Chan may not be a devout Christian or Buddhist, but after Young’s death, his faith is the only thing that pulls him out of his depression. His faith that his sister still loves him and cheers for him after her death is what inspires him to go back to football and start living his life again. At her grave, when it begins to snow, he exclaims, “It’s your first snow and your oppa is here to share it with you” (228). Partially because he has seen how their own faith has helped the people around him, Chan rediscovers faith in someone he has always believed in—his sister.
