Who is The boy from Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood and what is their importance?

The boy is the narrator/author and most important character in the book. He is iconic to the extent he has no given name but referenced as "the boy" throughout. He represents any boy and all boys growing up in a transitional economic and political society during wartime. His life, name and experiences are generic and lived by any Korean boy of his age and time. The boy is often assumed the author and the work autobiographical despite his claim that it is "real" fiction. He first appears in the story as a one year old baby that his parents take across the Korean border to Manchuria. They left Korea so his parents could accept employment as Christian missionary teachers in Manchuria. The period of this story begins in 1932 and ends in 1945, when the boy is thirteen. All experiences during this time are told by the boy through his eyes. The boy's perceptions are presented through vignettes that represent certain points in his life. For example, he appears initially as a baby boy in the arms of his mother when his father is removed from the train that was to transport them across the border. He next appears as a second-grader who has returned from Manchuria and is back in Korea on his first day of school.