When The Emperor Was Divine

Mrs. Wright lived her entire marriage alone, confined to a tiny house in the outskirts of town, with her only true companion a bird who sung to her, she loved that bird like it was her child. Mrs. Wright blamed her husband for her loneliness because he wouldn’t allow her to sing in church, have friends over, or have a telephone to even call people occasionally. Mr. Wright made her feel as though she was in solitary confinement in a prison this was not a home. At least she had her canary to keep her company, well until he took that away from her too.

Symbolism in When The Emperor Was Divine In this story the author uses symbolism to help bring the story together. In “When the Emperor Was Divine”, by Julie Otsuka, the Japanese American family is sent to a relocation camp. Throughout the story we get repeated symbolism in color, setting, and animals. This helps the reader get a better understanding of how much things can change by providing symbols from their life before the camp.

Julie Otsuka’s novel When the Emperor was Divine leads the reader through the journey of one family that represents many as they are placed in an internment camp for the crime of being Japanese. Otsuka brings to light the persecution of Japanese-Americans through her use of symbols prominent throughout the book. Some of the most important being the symbol of stains, their family dog, and horses. Each has a double-meaning pointing towards the theme of widespread racism. Racism that led many Japanese-Americans into believing that they were guilty.

The novel when the emperor was divine by Julia Otsuka shows the lives of a Japanese family during World War II, and the struggles they endure. These struggles were shared among many Japanese families in the U.S. during this time. The hardships this family faces change their personalities drastically and plays with there grasp on the real world.

Butler tells readers, “But I got my giant cage and I guess I’m happy enough about that” (218). The parrot is content with his new home, however the parrot’s new home is significant to the parrot’s current situation. Butler chooses the cage as a symbol of imprisonment, just like the husband and the wife’s marriage. In their marriage, the man would lock himself into the bathroom, whenever he almost said something about his wife’s actions. The man locking himself into the bathroom is the same way the parrot is trapped inside the cage. When the parrot wanted to talk to the wife about what he seen in her home, he was not able to. The cage parallels with the human and the parrot’s life. Both lives are represented by this cage because the parrot and the human have no way out, except for death. Death was the only gateway for both situations as a human and as a parrot.

When the Emperor Was Divine In history we learn of the actions taken against Japanese-Americans during World War II in the United States. This is something that is often brushed over, meaning it is not discussed in great detail. It is often mentioned that Japanese-Americans were abruptly moved from their homes at the start of the war. However, not many people know what really goes on behind the scenes at these camps.

“When the Emperor was divine” by Julie Otsuka, is a novel telling a story of a family whose world was turned upside down. When sent into a Japanese internment camp because of the bombing in pearl harbor. All people of Japanese descent were labelled enemies of the country. The mother had exactly 24 hours to pack up and get rid of everything. Her being a single mother at the time because the father was arrested for being accused of being a Japanese spy. This pushes the mother to become more paranoid for the survival of not only herself but her children because of the harsh living conditions within the camp.

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.

She didn't kill the dog because she felt bad because her brother was gone and there was nothing she could

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.

Ethan S. Student Mrs. Vermillion Honors English 10 08 April 2024 Creative Title: TBD Color White and Its Symbolization After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Mother and her two kids, a boy and a girl, were split up from their father and relocated by the United States government. They enter the internment camp they were sent to as an average family, but face many hardships and injustices during their time that cause them to change who they are. When they return, things are very different. The novel “When the Emperor Was Divine” tells the fictional story of a family who were relocated to an internment camp and the hardships, injustices, and racism they had to face.

During wartime usually there are casualties. Casualties are people who are injured and or killed during war. It can also refer to someone who gets injured and killed during an accident. Just as the japanese American war had many casualties, there were many movies, books, and film made out of this war. One of the many books that were written is “When the Emperor was Divine.” A movie that had been about casualties of war is “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.” A movie about children who are helping one another in camp and they get sent to the gas chambers to get killed and die. Another video or film shows some casualties of war is “Daughter from Danang.” It is about how mixed children would get killed or their parents send them away to America to

In Kate Chopin’s, The Awakening, she uses the figure of a bird to represent Edna’s freedom. One of the most relevant themes in this story is the struggle to declare your identity when everyone else has already declared it for you. The point is to spread your wings and break free of those expectations. The very first sentences set the scene of caged birds who squawk and chirp relentlessly, begging to be set free, free of their insanity. Chopin’s readers realize that those birds represent Edna’s role as a wife and mother.

Trauma stunts the growth of individuals, and it affects them to be fixated on it, as they have anxiety from the worry of reliving the same traumatic experience they once experienced, causing them to be isolated from their environment as the fixation on trauma overwhelms their day to day life. Out of the many characters in When the Emperor was Divine the effect of trauma was most apparent in the father, as it interrupted the flow of his life after the Japanese internment to a greater extent than it had to other characters. After the internment the father had a harder time adopting back into society as when freed from the camps he had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) constantly, “It was five minutes past curfew and he was trapped outside,

In “Jealous husband Returns in form of Parrot” Robert Olen Butlers main character is a parrot whose character traits consist of jealousy, insecurity, and lack of confrontment. The Author creates a story that is told from a perspective that is informative but also vivid. The development of the story allows the reader to visually analyze a picture as the story is being told. The overall theme of the story is that relationships are tough when they consist of certain traits. This is shown through the story 's character, tone and symbolism.