Lois-Ann Yamanaka's Heads by Harry

Heads by Harry: Young Adult Fiction?

Heads by Harry by Lois-Ann Yamanaka contains several elements that are found in young adult fiction.  The story follows the young protagonist, Toni Yagyuu, through high school and college.  It is a bildungsroman that explores the hardships of growing up—like discovering one’s sexual identity, seeking acceptance from parents, and suffering from unrequited love.  But to say Heads by Harry is a young adult novel, based solely on these characteristics, is too simple a categorization.  Yamanaka is clearly writing for an adult audience, and efforts to correctly categorize her work should follow the author’s intent.  Classification as an adult novel, however, should not deter librarians from recommending this book to young readers interested in Yamanaka and contemporary Hawaiian literature.

Name Me Nobody, expressly written for young adults, at times feels muted and constrained, as if Yamanaka, conscious of her audience, intentionally simplified her characters, language and imagery, and shied away from more mature themes and situations.  Heads by Harry, in comparison, is like “Name Me Nobody—Gone Wild!”  The characters swear more, they have more sex, they take more drugs, and they fight more violently.  They are also more fully developed.  The reader is not left to wonder why, for example, Toni is attracted to the brutish Wyatt.  Instead Yamanaka allows Wyatt to display his tender, vulnerable side.  Likewise, Toni’s father, Harry O., is not just the disapproving parent, disappointed by his children.  He is a complex man who sees the beauty in hunting boar, the art in taxidermy, gossips with neighbors one minute and quotes poetry the next. 

Heads by Harry is an appropriate book for any high school or public library.  The most appreciative audiences for this novel are mature readers; and not because it explores themes some consider unsuitable for youngsters—sex, drugs, single parenthood, and homosexuality—but because the work itself is a serious literary effort with a complex structure and thought-provoking ideas.  Yamanaka uses evocative imagery, pidgin dialect, fast-paced storytelling and realistic characters to describe the experience of growing up in Hawaii.

Possible Stereotypes

Yamanaka could be accused of perpetuating negative stereotypes of gay men with her portrayal of Shelly, Toni’s brother.  He is effeminate, cannot shoot a gun, he sews and designs clothes, and has dreams of owning a hair salon.  If this were the sum of his characterization then the criticism of stereotyping would indeed be correct.  However, Yamanaka provides contrasts to Shelly’s stereotypical behavior to give readers a multifaceted view of him and his relationship with Toni.  Shelly is flamboyant and melodramatic and always seeks to be the center of attention.  But he plans a party to recognize his parents’ retirement, and though he is the emcee for the event, he encourages Toni to take the spotlight and give the traditional banzai to the guests.  Shelly realizes his dream of becoming a hairdresser, and he also successfully graduates from UH Manoa with a business degree.  He has a competitive relationship with Toni, vying for the attention of the same men, but is the one left crying and brokenhearted each night. 

Yamanaka as a Serious Writer

Yamanaka is a distinguished American author because of her distinctive style, innovative use of dialog, realistic portrayals of underrepresented people, and exploration of universal and controversial themes.  Yamanaka’s use of pidgin is perhaps her most singular style.  All her characters speak pidgin, which imparts an immediate sense of reality.  Her stories take place in Hawaii, so it makes sense that her characters don’t speak standard English. Pidgin is used as a characterization device and as a way for Yamanaka to comment on one her major themes—acculturation, or more specifically “haole-fication.”  When characters do speak standard English they are seen by others as putting on airs, or trying to act white. 

What also sets Yamanaka apart is that she writes about people not normally seen in literature.  Her stories revolve around not just native Hawaiians, but the whole ethnic mix that makes up the population of Hawaii—Japanese, Portuguese, Filipinos, and local haoles.  When most mainland Americans think of Hawaii, they imagine its beaches and other tourist destinations.  Yamanaka writes of the lesser-known Hawaii, where locals hunt wild boar and make ashtrays from their hooves, where samurai drama is the most popular show on TV, and where a perfect evening is one spent gossiping with neighbors over plates of pupus and cold beer. 

Although her characters, settings and situations may be new to many readers, Yamanaka’s themes are universal.  She writes about growing up, and the painful experiences one goes through in becoming an adult.  Readers do not have to be familiar with Hawaiian culture to recognize the embarrassment of having to go to the prom with a family friend, or the regret over a one night stand, or the guilt of disappointing one’s parents.  Along with her universal themes, Yamanaka is also noted for tackling controversial issues.  She writes about homophobia and sex discrimination and, most significantly, about race and racial tension.  Not just the animosity between Asians and whites, but also the tension between the different Asian populations.  Yamanaka’s books may be controversial, but her unique style and unusual perspective make her an important voice in contemporary American literature.

LIS 682 Spring 2005