Experiences: Innocence and Evil’s Mock Trial

Last week, Ellen Greenblatt’s Innocence and Evil class put character Doc Hata of Chang-Rae Lee’s novel, A Gesture Life, on trial. In the story, Doc Hata is an aging physician haunted by – if not fully aware of – his role in the Japanese Army’s enslavement and rape of “comfort women” during World War II. Students cast a mock trial, decided whether Doc Hata was guilty of war crimes and wrote a news article and an editorial about the trial. Below, glimpse a few moments of the trial for yourself!