Nok Character Analysis in This Is How It Always Is

A man Poppy and Rosie meet in Thailand. Nok drives Rosie and Poppy around and guides them through cities, and he is the one to tell Poppy about the Buddha statues. He also tells Poppy about the Thai tradition of assigning days of the week colors, and he encourages Poppy to find out what day of the week she was born on, so she will know her color. “Find out,” Nok says. “Is important.” Poppy was born on a Monday, which means her color is yellow—an ambiguous color that is not overtly feminine and not overtly masculine, just like Poppy.

Nok Character Timeline in This Is How It Always Is

The timeline below shows where the character Nok appears in This Is How It Always Is. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Claude and Rosie’s guide, Nok, explains that Buddha statues are depicted as feminine because femininity is “peaceful, gentle, [and] nonaggressive.”... (full context)

Claude also notices that everyone seems to be wearing yellow, and Nok explains that yellow is the “color of Monday.” Okay, Claude says, but it is Wednesday.... (full context)