Chester Nez

Character Analysis

Courageous Warrior

Let's just get it out of the way: we heart Chester Nez. Actually, "heart" doesn't even begin to cover the galaxy-sized amount of respect we have for this dude. RIP, Chester (he died in 2014)—you lived approximately ten gajillion lives packed into one.

But, ahem, that's not exactly conductive to a literary analysis, is it? If we were grading your paper on Code Talkers and you just wrote "Chester Nez is the best. Ever." we'd think "Yes, absolutely," but we'd still ask you to back up that (very valid) statement.

So, without further ado: why is Chester Nez the Bester Nez? (Sorry.)

If we had to pick one, just one awesome characteristic that defines our hero Chester Nez (this is such a hard choice!) it's… courage.

After all, the dude signs up to join the Marines in order to fight for his country. He puts his life at risk over and over again in order to help the Americans win the fight against the Japanese for the Pacific. When Chester discusses the decision to join up with the Marines with his buddy Roy Begay, he tells him, "We are warriors" (9.26). Chester goes on to explain to us that:

We, like other Native Americans, had been born to the warrior tradition. Like other Navajos, we saw ourselves as inseparable from the earth we lived upon. As protectors of what is sacred, we were […] eager to defend our land. (9.27)

Chester's words here show us how seriously he takes the responsibility to defend his land. His sense of courage is rooted in his Navajo culture… but they're also evidence of what an awesome, brave, and totally upright guy he is as an individual. Go Chester.

Seeker of the Right Way

Chester is a big believer in following the "Right Way," a Navajo term for the honorable, balanced life. Yep—we'd say that Chester did it the "Right Way." For sure.

Like other traditional Navajos, I'd always believed in the "Right Way." Balance must be found, not only between individuals, but between each person and his world. (1.3)

Chester lives his entire life—not just his life on the battlefield— according to this Navajo belief in the "Right Way." He always tries to do the right thing, even if it isn't in his best interest (joining up the Marines is a pretty dangerous undertaking, after all).

He's a balanced guy: he's courageous, but he's not reckless. He looks out for others as much as he looks out for himself. We can see his courage and responsibility in the way that he carries out his code-talking work during the war. Chester is always super careful about delivering the correct messages over the radio so that he doesn't put his Marine buddies' lives at risk.

He respects both the traditions of his native Navajo culture and those of the "Anglo," or white world that he becomes a part of. We can see this respect for both cultures in the way that he and Ethel get married, for example. Their wedding is half-Navajo, and half-"Anglo," incorporating customs from both cultures.

Serious Dude

When Chester compares himself to the other twenty-nine code talkers who've been recruited to develop the code, he says that he was a "serious" guy, like his partner Roy Begay (10.55). Chester doesn't crack a lot of jokes, like others of his code-talking buddies, but he laughs "a lot with the other guys" (10.55). He's not the life of the party, but you'd definitely invite him to the party.

Chester doesn't really explain to us why he's so serious. It might have to do with the tough times he lives through in boarding school as a young kid. We sure wouldn't be laughing a lot or cracking jokes if we'd had to face those absolutely horrifying school "matrons" as young kids, or if we were constantly being chased by older bullies. Or it might have to do with the fact that, at the time in his life that most people are learning to drive and going on first dates and planning graduation, he was literally helping win WWII.

But it may be that it's just Chester's nature to be a little more on the serious side. Some of us are class clowns and some of us are serious, after all. It's kind of a chicken-egg thing with Chester's personality and his immense acts of patriotic courage—did the events of WWII mold his personality, or did his personality make him a perfect fit to tackle the intensity of WWII?

No one knows.

Family Man

Not only is Chester a courageous warrior, he's also a family guy. (Yes, Chester's pretty awesome.)

After he returns from the war and has a family, he talks about how much time he enjoys spending with his kids. He tells us:

Although I worked, I made sure to spend lots of time with my children and their friends […] I never tired of their company. (21.26)

And after he and his wife Ethel get a divorce, it's Chester who takes over care of the children. In fact, the divorce occurs in part because Chester spends more time raising the kids than his wife does. This isn't necessarily a slight on Ethel—we don't know what her deal was, and this is Chester's story—but it does speak volumes that a man in this era would take on what was generally considered "women's work."

Basically, it's exhibit #4,639 in the case of "Chester Nez being an all-around amazing guy."