Finding Junie Kim

One aspect of the internal conflict that Junie suffers from is her sense of agency within the ideological conflict of the Racism in America motif. After more than a year of racist bullying, Junie feels powerless against the hatred that exists in American society. Grandpa’s influence through Doha’s narrative and his contemporary advice helps Junie acknowledge the need for voice and self-advocacy within the ideological conflict at her school.

Grandpa’s influence is set within a historical, familial context, while Grandpa provides interpretation and contemporary comparisons that empower Junie to achieve voice. As Doha, the most significant symbol of voice is Dr. Han—Junie’s great-grandfather—whom Grandpa identifies as his hero. This admiration parallels Junie’s view of Grandpa. Doha’s bravery reinforces the role of children within an adult conflict that seems impossible, while Grandpa reassures Junie that she can self-advocate in different ways, noting that she need not force confrontations to participate in the fight against racism in America. Instead, she can take a less obvious approach like her father. Doha’s example and Grandpa’s didactic advice provide clear approaches to achieving power and agency through voice. By understanding the heroism of her great-grandfather and her grandfather, Junie gains the confidence to become the heroine of her own drama, the one she is living every day in middle school as a second-generation Korean American.

Patrice and the Diverse Voices Club are important symbols of voice and self-advocacy that compare Junie’s different approaches to social conflict from the beginning of the novel to the end of the novel: silence or voice. The first approach is set within the context of the Mental Health and Positive Attitude theme and highlights her internal struggle with negativity, which characterizes Junie at the beginning of the novel due to her lack of agency in the face of Tobias’s bullying. Her response to social conflict at the end of the novel is more positive and acknowledges her power to change the world around her by speaking out, carrying on her family’s tradition of heroism that she discovered when interviewing her Grandpa and Grandma. Junie’s part at the end of the Diverse Voices video that she edits for the school assembly to educate about racism in society demonstrates the impact of Grandpa’s story and working with Patrice and her friends. In the video, she warns that being a bystander makes people complicit in the spread of racism. Junie’s development demonstrates the role of voice as self-advocacy, a power that empowers her to act in the face of conflict.

Mental Health and Positive Attitude is a theme that threads all aspects of the novel. As a Bildungsroman, or novel of identity and becoming, Junie’s growth and development begin at a point of crisis, with the main protagonist at her lowest point of mental health. Junie’s crisis primarily results from isolation. With tools and techniques to combat depression, Junie achieves a sense of mental stability with the help of a support system that includes her family and her therapist. The novel demonstrates that overcoming depression is an ongoing process that requires support and awareness as well as a positive attitude.

The structural approach to this theme highlights the continual nature of emotional struggle. Junie’s battle begins in Book 1, and her support system develops before moving on to the later Books in the novel. Junie’s therapist encourages Junie to share her problems with her family but also provides her with tools to manage her mental health by advising her about mindfulness and emotional regulation, two mental health concepts that develop Junie’s awareness of the obstacles she faces. For example, the creeping sadness that she describes in Book 1 becomes the depression voice after her sessions with Rachel, illustrating Junie’s growing awareness and understanding of depression. Additionally, her support system grows as her acceptance and identification with Korean culture grows, and her friends learn of her struggles and add support as well. The structure of the novel demonstrates Junie’s transition from isolation to group support and from sadness to emotional regulation, with education and acceptance as the necessary components of these transitions. An important component of Junie’s progress is her relationship with her grandfather, who does more than simply share his story. He intersperses advice and wisdom that helps Junie frame her struggle in the context of her Korean American journey. Grandfather’s stories of his youth during the Korean War show Junie’s alternative ways to deal with fear, hurt, and pain.

Junie consistently reflects on the need to remain positive in the novel as well. This emphasis on remaining positive in the face of obstacles, such as Grandpa’s death, demonstrates the impact of self-awareness and education to combat depression. For example, Book 4 emphasizes Junie’s attempts to use the tools she has been provided to maintain a positive attitude amid emotional upheaval. When she recognizes the symptoms of depression in her grandmother, this encourages her to provide support and regulate her emotional responses by focusing on her grandmother instead. Grandma’s vacation to South Korea with Junie and her family in the Epilogue symbolizes the healing that Junie and Grandma achieve together.