Internment Camps In Julie Otsuka's When The Emperor Was Divine

Throughout Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki and Into the Desert by Nancy Karakane, the characters undergo physical and emotional injustice which shape who they later become. In Farewell to Manzanar we learn about a seven-year old‘s first hand view before during and after camp Manzanar. The Wakatsuki family and Japanese-americans along the west coast were taken from their home and put into relocation camps. In this book we endure her issues in and out of camp and also the injustice that not only does she face, but also many other Japanese-americans.

In her novel, When the Emperor was Divine, Julie Otsuka explores the effects of fear and isolation on identity. The story is set during World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Everyone is scared, including the United States government, so they ship all of the Japanese-Americans off to internment camps. Otsuka focuses on one family in particular. The father gets arrested on suspicion of involvement with the attack, and spends the entire war alone. He returns home three years later a completely different man. Meanwhile, the mother and the two children spend the remainder of the war living at one of the remote camps. They each cope with the situation in different ways; however, all of their personalities have

But was it for the best or for the worst ? The girl had much insight and could cope with almost anything, a 10 year old with a family and a home, a smart young lady who was unimpeachable, given the options to make her own decision she did so. While she did have her insecurities she would put them aside, and the contempt feeling went away. While in the kitchen, the girl walks in and drinks her water, knowing it was time for her piano lessons, she sits ¨Do i have to? {the woman thought for a moment} No, she said, only if you want to. Tell me i have to.¨[pg.16] When the girl wants her mother to tell her what to do, this symbolizes both the relationship they have and how the girl is still a child that wants reinsurance and is still dependent on her. Though during the time they were in the internment camp many things had changed her. The girl had became both reckless and careless, making impulsive decisions without thinking of the after effects or consequences. When she was in the internment camp, the girl became irresponsible and stop caring about everything “ In the morning she did not return until long after dark. She was always in a rush now...she ate all her meals with her friends. Never with the boy and his mother. She smoked cigarettes.[pg.92]” When the

There are many things that happened to Japanese-American immigrants during World War 2 that people in this time period aren’t really familiar with. A story from a Japanese woman, Jeanne Wakatsuki-Houston, who was born and lived in this era, with help from her husband, James D. Houston, explains and sheds some light during the times where internment camps still prevailed. The writing piece titled “Arrival at Manzanar", takes place during her childhood and the Second World War. In the beginning, Jeanne and her family were living a calm and peaceful life in a predominantly white neighborhood, until disaster struck the world and they were forced to move due to escalating tensions between Japanese Orientals and white Americans. At the time, Japanese-Americans, like Jeanne, were forced to live in an internment camp, which is a prison of sorts, due to the war with Japan. The text is being told through a first person point-of-view in which Jeanne herself tells the story through her experiences during the war. In that story, which contains only a part of the original text, much of the setting took place either prior to and during the time she was sent to the internment camps and describes her struggle with it. This story clearly states the importance of family and perseverance which is shown through her use of pathos, definition, and chronological storytelling.

The novel When the Emperor Was Divine tells a story of a Japanese America family’s who is separated and it is recruited in internment camps during World War Two. The American government orders to arrest the father of the family because they accused him of being a spy. Then, the mother has to take care of her two children and move to the internet camp. During the three years, the mother and her two children spend in captivity. Generally, they are in the limbo because they never know when they will be released or what will happen to them. After the war the woman, the boy, and the girl leave the internment camp and they

“Farewell to Manzanar” After the disastrous event of Pearl Harbor, many Japanese families were suspected of contributing to the bombing and betraying the United States. In the book, “Farewell to Manzanar”, the authors, Jeanne Wakatsuki and James Houston, portray damaging influences of WWII and its consequences by discussing Jeanne's life before and after the internment camps. As the internment camps concluded, some rights of the Japanese residents were cut which impacted their lives drastically. When Jeanne revisits Manzanar with her family, she explains how her Papa’s life had ended there, although he lived a few years after coming out of camp.

"Not only was the evacuation wrong, but Japanese Americans were and are loyal Americans" (President Gerald R. ford). If the Americans realized that the internment camps were wrong... Then why did the Americans do it? Arthur Miller show just why people act the way they do when they are faced with fear. In the crucible Arthur Miller shows how fear can cause people to be unethical, this was also shown in American history during the Japanese internment camps.

The Japanese-American author, Julie Otsuka, wrote the book When the Emperor was Divine. She shares her relative and all Japanese Americans life story while suffering during World War II, in internment camps. She shares with us how her family lived before, during, and after the war. She also shares how the government took away six years of Japanese-American lives, falsely accusing them of helping the enemy. She explains in great detail their lives during the internment camp, the barbed wired fences, the armed guards, and the harsh temperatures. When they returned home from the war they did not know what to believe anymore. Either the Americans, which imprisoned them falsely, or the emperor who they have been told constantly not to believe, for the past six years imprisoned. Japanese-Americans endured a great setback, because of what they experienced being locked away by their own government.

In When the Emperor was Divine, the author, Julie Otsuka, uses her choice of narrator to represent the overall image of Japanese Americans throughout the war. At the beginning of the first chapter, the narrator is the mother who is very proper and clearly trying to fit in. This is demonstrative of how Japanese Americans were treated like any other citizen before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. After the attack, the Japanese Americans became isolated and hated and were forced to leave their homes. When the mother receives an evacuation notice, she has to pack up and hide all of her family's possessions. The family has an old dog and she decides that she has no choice but to kill it. The Americans saw anyone with Japanese heritage as brutes who have no compassion and it is this belief that causes the mother to have to commit and brutal action. By using the mother as the first narrator, Otsuka depicts the change of the overall opinion of the Japanese Americans.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the internment of Japanese Americans on the West coast of the United States. On going tension between the United States and Japan rose in the 1930’s due to Japan’s increasing power and because of this tension the bombing at Pearl Harbor occurred. This event then led the United States to join World War II. However it was the Executive Order of 9066 that officially led to the internment of Japanese Americans. Japanese Americans, some legal and illegal residents, were moved into internment camps between 1942-1946. The internment of Japanese Americans affected not only these citizens but the

2. What were the specific challenges Gruenewald and other interned Japanese Americans faced in “camp” life? How did individuals and families adapt to these changes?

Imagine what it would be like if you and your family. Had to leave your home and live in a camp. In World War ll, life was challenging for Japanese Americans living inside internment camps. It was not necessary for so many reasons. It caused economic, political, and racial problems.

     For over a century, the United States has been one of the most powerful and influential states on the globe. However, every nation has made mistakes in its past. Throughout our country’s history, certain groups have had to endure horrible injustices: the enslavement of African-Americans, the removal of Native Americans, and discrimination against immigrants, women, homosexuals, and every other minority. During World War II, the government crossed the line between defending the nation and violating human rights, when it chose to relocate Japanese residents to internment camps. The actions taken by the U.S. government against Japanese Americans and Japanese living in the

Wakatsuki-Houston presents an insightful portrayal of the Japanese-American internment camp in California known as Manzanar. She describes how her life changed throughout the experience as she grew from child to young woman. She captivates the reader's attention with intermittent interviews, describing the seemingly constant turmoil that each prisoner faced.

After the attack on the Pearl Harbor in 1941, a surprise military strike by the Japanese Navy air service, United States was thrilled and it provoked World War II. Two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. President FDR ordered all Japanese-Americans regardless of their loyalty or citizenship, to evacuate the West Coast. This resulted over 127,000 people of Japanese descent relocate across the country in the Japanese Internment camps. Many of them were American Citizens but their crime was being of Japanese ancestry. They were forced to evacuate their homes and leave their jobs and in some cases family members were separated and put into different internment camps. There were ten internment camps were placed in “California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas”(History.com). However, until the camps were fully build, the Japanese people were held in temporary centers. In addition, almost two-thirds of the interns were Japanese Americans born in the United States and It made no difference that many of them had never even been to Japan. Also, Japanese-American veterans of World War I were forced to leave their homes and relocate in the internment camps. Japanese families in internment camps dined together, children were expected to attend school, and adults had the option of working for earning $5 per day. The United States government hoped that the internment camps could make it self-sufficient by farming to produce food.