52 pages • 1 hour read
Necessary Roughness
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Background
Authorial Context: Marie G. Lee’s Experience
Marie G. Lee drew on her own experiences heavily when writing Necessary Roughness, which is inspired by her own childhood. Lee is Korean American; her parents, born in North Korea, crossed the border to South Korea and spent years there before immigrating to the United States. She drew on her experience growing up as an American daughter of immigrants to create the characters of Chan and Young and to establish the dynamics of the Kim family unit. Lee was raised in the small mining town of Hibbing, Minnesota, which served as a clear inspiration for the fictional town of Iron River, where nearly the entirety of Necessary Roughness plays out.
She experienced difficulties as the only Asian child in her very white town, but, like Chan and Young, she recognizes the different world that her parents experienced living through the Korean War. Her parents emigrated from Korea in 1953, the year that the fighting in Korea stopped. They experienced firsthand the trauma of war and came to the United States so their child could be safe and secure, so she would be able to worry about normal things like homework and extracurriculars. Due to the contrast between her parents’ experiences and her own relatively safe upbringing, Lee grew up with an inherent tension present in her household. Lee explores the conflict and guilt that being a second-generation American can create for kids, but she also explores the beauty of being from two cultures. Her ability to exist in American and Korean spaces gives her a unique perspective on the world, one she communicates through her Korean American protagonist.
Lee is the author of multiple young adult books focused on or inspired by her own experiences; these novels explore her journey of forging her own identity through her adolescence, being caught between two cultures and learning from both. Football plays a large role in several of her books, representing both a quintessential slice of American culture and a manifestation of teenagers’ heightened emotions. With Necessary Roughness, Lee wrote a novel that allowed her to explore and dissect the biggest questions from her own childhood through the lens of fiction.
Cultural Context: American Football
While originally apathetic about the sport, Chan quickly makes football the largest part of his life in Iron River. Football represents more than just the sport. For Chan, it’s a community, an activity that makes him feel valuable, and a role to work hard for.
American football is a central part of the culture of the American Midwest. The National Football League’s (NFL) Northern Division includes the Green Bay Packers (Wisconsin), the Chicago Bears (Illinois), the Detroit Lions (Michigan), and the Minnesota Vikings (based in Minneapolis). Fandom surrounding these teams are nearly synonymous with civic identity for many residents of these cities. Meanwhile, in smaller towns like Iron River, high school football dominates the local culture, and social events like parades and school dances revolve around the football calendar. Students, parents, and fans attend games, cheer on the team, and participate in school rivalries.
In Los Angeles, Chan has a wide array of sports to choose from, each representing its own cultural traditions. He chooses to play soccer—the name used in the US for what most of the world calls football—a sport with an enormous global following despite its relative unpopularity in the US. In Iron River, American football is his only option, and his struggles and eventual success in adopting this new sport symbolize his efforts to adapt to a less culturally diverse environment.
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