- American identity
- Patriotism and loyalty
- Alien-ness
- The portrayal of enemies
- Community and belonging
- Varying meanings of home
- Secrecy
You are not limited to this list: feel free to identify another theme that seems important in the novel.
This response is due no later than class time on Tuesday, February 21. You will only have two more opportunities to write a Reading Response before Spring Break, so make sure you get at least two in before then.
ReplyDeleteThe novel called When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka helps us to look closely at Japanese internment during WWII. In the novel she connects us to a struggle of a family who loses meaning of their home during the internment. Throughout the novel, trees are the symbol of home. Above all, trees are the source oxygen and keep us alive as humans.
We are introduced to concept of home when the mother frees their bird from the birdcage. However the bird flies into a tree rather than flying towards freedom. ‘“Go”, she said. The bird flapped his wings and flew up into the maple tree. She grabbed the broom from behind the stove and went outside and shook the branches of the tree. A spray of water fell from the leaves. “Go” she shouted. “Get on out of here’”(20). Perhaps the bird is so used to being in a birdcage, where is safe and secure. Therefore, it has accepted the birdcage as its home. In the same way, after the family was freed from the internment, they aren’t able to fly to freedom, instead they continue to live the imprisonment in their minds.
The family lived in California where trees were part of their lives. But when they are sent internment camps in Utah in a desert, the family is left with no trees, meaning no stability and no root of hope for them. As a result, when the trees are taken away from them, so is their idea of home. Moreover a land without trees is scary and has no oxygen basically no life. On the other hand, when the army plants trees in the internment camp during the winter, the idea of home is represented again. By spring time all the trees end up dead because the soil is too alkaline. No matter how hard they try to make the internment camp home to Japanese-American, the family knows that it won’t be their home. At home, no one is being shot to death like the man who reach to pick a flower near the fence. In the meantime, the street signs are been named after trees, which makes the family to believe that they are going to be staying at the camp for a long time. At camp the family is rootless, but when the signs appear there a hope that they have a place to call home, the sense of belonging. When they read the sign “Oak Street,” the family at least has a sense of where they are and they feel like they belong somewhere.
After the war, the family returns home to find that the trees they left behind seem to have grown taller, but it is the family who has changed, not their home. The family waited so long to return to their home. The family had desired to return their home, but now their home is nowhere to be found for in their mind they are imprisoned from the internment camp idea of home but their physical home seems to be strange to them. They are confused on how to be free just like the bird who lived in a cage for a long time.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka we see the effect that WWII and the internment camps had on the Japanese people’s identity. Their own Japaneseness was frowned upon and replaced with this idea of “behaving” like an American. There are various places where the overarching idea of American identity in contrast to Japanese identity is put on display and we must not ignore its significance.
On page 75, during the aftermath of the father being taken away, we see the boy’s mother destroying all traces of their heritage as the writer states, “She burned the records of Japanese opera. She ripped up the flag of the red rising sun. She smashed the tea set and the Imari dishes and the framed portrait of the boy’s uncle, who had been a general in the Emperor’s army. She smashed the abacus and tossed it into the flames. “From now on,” she said, “we’re counting from our fingers.””She also sends her kids to school with PB&J lunches, stating to them, “No more rice balls” (75). The mother was behaving in a way that she believed would be acceptable towards society, an American way that would fit in rather than stand out. This may seem a bit dramatic to the reader, however, given the reality that they lived in, her actions served something that was seemingly an imperative rather than a dramatic moment.
On page 84, as the boy is wrestling with his father’s abduction he thinks to himself the following, “When in town if you meet another Japanese do not greet him in the Japanese manner by bowing. Remember, you’re in America. Greet him in the American way by shaking his hand” (84). Here it is clearer than ever that there was a fear of behaving in any way that was “un-American” that constantly flooded the minds of Japanese citizens. It is also interesting to note that the coping mechanism that the boy and his family deploy in the absence of the father, is a denial of themselves. Instead of being able to worry and mourn about the uncertain whereabouts of the father, they are somewhat forced to denounce who they are in efforts to become more “American” which is thought to ultimately ensure their safety.
The book does a great job at displaying the magnitude and difficulty that came with trying to put on the American Identity.. What strikes me as odd is the obvious factor that being American shouldn’t look a certain way or act a certain way. However, for Japanese Americans during WWII and various other groups of people throughout our Nation’s history, that is not the case. This serves as irony when considering the history of our nation. We are in fact a nation built upon the backs of immigrants. Not a single founding father was indigenous to the land, and that test of authenticity would also fail countless others throughout history who were influential and or rose to power in our nation. This should serve as a humbling factor. However, the opposite outcome is the victor as we see all too well in the novel. People who are truly American have to put on the portrayal of some “true American” because they don’t fit the image. What is highlighted here is our ability as a people to alienate on the grounds of the true “American way.”
The novel When the Emperor was Divine may not be the longest, but is does allow for the reader to get a good sense of how the Japanese people felt during the time of Japanese internment camps. This author, Julie Otsuka, writes the novel through the perspective of one Japanese family during this time. The journey of this family allows the reader to see the reoccurring theme of alien-ness throughout the novel in a very subtle yet meaningful way.
ReplyDeleteAfter the family returns from the internment camp, the boy and girl try to return to their normal routines. However, after returning to school and going about their days as they had done before leaving, they soon realize that they are not treated the same. Otsuka describes this experience by stating, “We looked at ourselves in the mirror and did not like what we saw: black hair, yellow skin, slanted eyes. The cruel face of the enemy. We were guilty. Just put it behind you. No good. Let it go. A dangerous people. You’re free now. Who could never be trusted again. All you have to do is behave. On the street we tried to avoid our own reflections wherever we could. We turned away from shiny surfaces and storefront windows. We ignored the passing glances of strangers. What kind of “ese” are you, Japanese or Chinese? (120) This passage reveals to the reader how the family felt about themselves. They no longer feel like they belong. They are suddenly the outcast in their community. They are starting to believe the stereotypes that have been placed upon. This passage shows the back and forth internal thoughts that go on in their head. They are starting to see themselves as “the cruel face of the enemy,” and as being “guilty” and even believing that they are “a dangerous people” because that is what their society believes. The family feels so poorly about themselves and so neglected that they say, “We tried to avoid our own reflections wherever we could.” This shows that because the society feels they do not belong, they are starting to take on that belief as well.
Another passage that further exemplifies the theme alien-ness occurs when the author references how the Japanese people are to act when they are released from the camps back to the “Outside World.” Julie Otsuka writes, “(Keep your head down and don’t cause any trouble, we’d been told, weeks before, in a mess hall lecture on “How to Behave in the Outside World.” Speak only English. Do not walk down the street in groups of more than three, or gather in restaurants in groups of more than five. Do not draw attention to yourselves in any way)” (122). This demonstrates how these people need to change the way they live when returning from the camps, because they will no longer be treated the same when they return home. They are not able to speak Japanese; they have to be cautious of being out in public in a large group, and are pretty much told to try to live life while being unnoticed. This again shows how the family along with the rest of the Japanese people from the camp are now the aliens in society, and will no longer be viewed the same. They will forever have a certain feeling like they do not belong within society, all because of their race. Regardless if they are American citizens, they still must feel like they do not belong in America.
At first glance these passages may not seem to have that much power behind them. However, after further dissection the reader is able to see and almost feel how these Japanese people felt during the time of these internment camps. There is so much power behind these statements that leave the reader with no choice but to sympathize with these Japanese people during this time period. These innocent people had to walk around with a target on their backs, solely because of something they could not control, their race. It is one thing to have people make you feel like you are an alien, but when you start to believe it yourself that is when it crosses the line.
I felt like When the Emperor Was Divine gave an eerie look into the lives of a Japanese family forced into internment—imprisonment—following the attack of Japan on Pearl Harbor. The lack of names for the characters made it seem like they could have been anyone—any person of Japanese descent forced into the internment camps during this time.
ReplyDeleteI think that the theme of identity is one that is prevalent through the novel, especially that of national or cultural identity. Throughout the story, we see various indications of cultural identity and its importance—whether the culture is Japanese or American. Throughout the novel, we see people insisting that they are American, moreso than Japanese, because they have lived there their whole lives, were born there, have spent decades there, and so on. However, the theme of cultural identity stands out to me in the passage beginning with “The next morning…” on page 74, and ending with “’I’m the King.’” on page 75. In this passage, we see the mother destroying the family’s ties with Japan; she burns everything that could tie her to her country “…the letters from Kagoshima… the family photographs and the three silk kimonos she had brought over with her nineteen years ago from Japan… the records of Japanese opera.” She rips up the Japanese flag, smashes the tea set, Japanese porcelain dishes, and the picture of her brother—a former general in the army—and even the abacus. All of these remnants of her own upbringing are destroyed to protect herself and her children.
Perhaps the most powerful example of the family’s rejection of their Japanese cultural heritage, however, is when the mother tells her children that “’if anyone asks, you’re Chinese.’” This shows how truly scared the mother is for her family—not only does she destroy everything that tied her to her childhood home, but she tells her children to reject their actual biology and claim an identity that they do not belong to, just to stay safe.
These images of the mother’s fear stand out to the reader in that they stood out enough to her child to be mentioned in his own narrative. They illustrate just how terrified the Japanese-American population must have been during the internment period, and help the modern generation to understand more of the narratives surrounding World War II.
In the novel, When the Emperor was Divine, one theme that is portrayed very clearly is the idea of patriotism and loyalty. Throughout the novel, it is clear to see that many of the Japanese people seem to want to be loyal to America despite their home country being in a war with Japan. The Japanese people being held in the internment camps obviously want to do anything to avoid being labeled a traitor. However, most of these Japanese Americans were already very Americanized and most likely already sided with America during the war.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel, the mother is a very Americanized Japanese American that is very cooperative when being forced into an internment camp. While talking to her children, she goes over the things that they must not do while on the internment camps. She finishes by telling her children, “And remember, never say the Emperor’s name out loud” (52). While the mother has become very much Americanized while living in the United States, she still wants to make sure that her and her family are not labeled loyal to the Japanese Empire. This is a very important passage because it shows how fear of being labeled loyal to the Japanese Empire seemed to rule these people’s lives.
Another passage that helps to show the themes of patriotism and loyalty is when the novel describes how the boy passes the time and what he does while in the internment camp. It describes how he hangs out with the other boys playing games. While playing a game called war he hears some of the boys shouting, “Kill the Nazis. Kill the Japs” (54). This is very interesting and even a bit unnerving to read. The young Japanese boys are so loyal to the United States that they are fantasizing about being American soldiers. They even go as far as to refer to their own people with a derogatory term. This is very important to the novel and this time period historically because it shows how loyal Japanese Americans were to the United States. Despite this loyalty, almost all Japanese people on the West Coast were sent into internment camps until the war was over.
In Julie Otsuka’s book When the Emperor was Divine, the setting takes place during the Japanese internment in WWII. Specifically, we follow one family's journey as free Japanese-American citizens in California, to prisoners in an internment camp in Utah. Otsuka illustrates the theme of care and compassion as the boy becomes more aware (or even loses some of his innocence) of his circumstances and maturity throughout the experiences in the internment-specifically with his sister and mother.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning, we witness the curious yet quiet character of the boy. The reader only knows that he misses his father who is in prison, and often has nostalgic memories and nightmares about his arrest. However, as the story progresses we see the boy transition from wandering and playing games to developing a deep concern for his sister and his mother. The author states, “He often wandered the firebreak with his head own and his hands in his pockets, looking for seashells and old Indian arrowheads in the sand” (52). Furthermore, “He played Chinese checkers. He roamed through the barracks with the other boys in his block, playing cops and robbers and war” (53). The boy seems to maintain his innocence of play and laughter even in the midst of harsh circumstances. However, the reader slowly sees the boy shift from playing to an awareness of his circumstance and concern for his sister, mother and future.
The sister who once nurtured and played with her brother was occupied with her own group of friends she made in the camp. Their life together was now in the past. The sister smoked cigarettes, ate meals with her friends, stayed out as night and often did not acknowledge the boy in the mess hall. However, the essence of the boy and sister’s relationship in the camp is summed up in the moment where the boy goes out in the middle of the winter night to see his sister jumping rope. He goes outside out of concern that she will catch a cold. He states, “You better come in now, he said quietly. You’ll catch cold” (97). By contrast, in the beginning of the book the reader witnesses the sister taking care of the boy-as he leaned his head on her lap on the train, or the consultation she provided when he had a bad dream.
Additionally, another dramatic moment that demonstrates the boy’s awareness is when he witnesses his mother enter a state of depression. The mother no longer cared about the events in the war. She had no work-and no purpose to go anywhere. She lost her appetite for food, she did not leave the room. Her depression became unbearable to the point that she hung a white sheet and called it a curtain, where she laid behind it and slept. (94) It is this moment that she tells the boy that she dreamed of “red paper lanterns drifting one by one down the river” (94-95). She tells the boy that she was five-year old girl fishing for trout with her father. This moment with the mother and her son reflects the innocence of play, and the vulnerability to be with her father (that contrast to his dreams about his father) back to the boy from the perspective of a trusted adult. The boy than ask his mother what kind of fishing pole she was using. He ask if it was bamboo. The author notes, “For the first time in months he thought he saw her smile” (95). She replied to the boy that it was bamboo.
In this moment, I believe that Otsuka wanted the reader to recognize the desire for the innocence of a child, the loss of the innocence of a child through unbearable circumstances, and the consolation a child can give. In addition, Otsuka contradicts the notion of harsh conditions breeding a sense of selfishness (as mentioned in The Hiding Place). We witness through the boy, how compassion and care can be present and amplified in the midst of harsh circumstances.
Otsuka’s novel is an immaculate account of skepticism of self and others. She beautifully crafts events of alienation to portray the conditional environment of the 1940s. In a broader sense, the author demonstrates alienation by leaving the protagonists nameless - comparable to the impersonal nature of numeral identification. This labeling is employed in Otsuka’s novel as the first specific example of alienation.
ReplyDeleteThe reader is introduced to this estrangement in the shipment of Japanese and Japanese americans to internment camps. For “national security”, all of Japanese descent are shipped inland. Succeeding Pearl Harbor, he or she of Japanese ethnicity were chastised and ridiculed for their association to “the enemy”. This schism was further defined when the Japanese and Japanese Americans were transported. Thus, following the traumatic experiences of the camps, returning post war was a time of alarming skepticism.
Such skepticism is initially portrayed by the public toward the Japanese and Japanese Americans. On page 111, Otsuka portrays one expression of hatred towards these returnees,
“Water had seeped through a crack in the ceiling and on the walls there were brown stains and words scrawled in red ink that made us turn away. ‘We will paint them over,’ said mother, and several months later, when we had money to buy paint, we did, but for years we could not get those words out of our heads”. Additionally, the Japanese boy and girl predominant in the novel were alienated by their peers, “At school our new teachers were kind to us, and the student in our classes polite, but at lunchtime they would not sit with us, or invite us to join in their games and not a single one of our old friends from before...came up to us to say, ‘Welcome back,’ or ‘Good to see you’, or even seemed to remember who we were”(121). The young boy and girl returned to social seclusion.
This seclusion results in an examination of self. In response to being associated to the enemy and crime, the family is forced to live conscientiously. Their reputation is emphatically fragile and to upkeep it, as well as survive, the boy and girl retire personal interest. “We would join their clubs, after school, if they let us. We would listen to their music. We would dress just like they did. We would change our names to sound more like theirs. And if our mother called out to us on the street by our real names we would turn away and pretend not to know her. We would never be mistaken for the enemy again”(114). By surrendering their previous lifestyle and interests, the boy and girl alienate themselves from their person, their individuality. Thus, remains confliction and the immense burden stress imposes.
This alienation between those of Japanese descent imposes tension resulting in alienation between those of Japanese descent and their individuality. Therefore, distinguishing themselves from the unique person God created them to be.
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ReplyDeleteOn page 75 of When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka, the mother has a bonfire destroying her memorabilia from Japan and anything related to Japanese culture. She burns kimonos, letters, and records of Japanese opera. She smashes a tea set, frame, and Iman dishes. She packs American lunches of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and demands her children say they are Chinese and not Japanese.
ReplyDeleteThis passage shows the intense reality of what American identity was supposed to look like at that point in time. She grew up with these Japanese treasures, but she had to purge them from her house to seem as loyal as possible. America claimed to be a melting pot, yet it passive-aggressively forced her to destroy anything with a trace of Japanese culture or taste to appear as loyal as possible. The family had to deny their Japanese American identity to ensure an American enough appearance. The family had to try to conform to the new American identity even though it would be impossible to totally do so.
This was extremely troubling for me in light of the American identity because America claims that all who come here can have the chance to pursue the American dream. Diversity is embraced and celebrated, giving an opportunity to all. However, during times of security threats, the American identity is confined excluding a whole group because of a threat abroad who looks just like them. This shows that the American identity is conditional; it is a chameleon that I can’t imagine feeling so personally threatened and still choosing to quietly and swiftly oblige. She was determined to save her family from a country that looked at just the surface of a people group and condemned them for what was seen.
During Japanese internment, American identity was wrongly redefined. People of Japanese descent where not considered citizens but spies and enemies. “They shoved bamboo splinters under our fingernails and made us kneel for hours.” Japanese people are inhumane. “We had to stand at attention with our hands at our sides while they beat us.” Japanese people are torturers. These are the messages that were feed to America by media and the government concerning the Japanese. On and on stories of prisoners of war that have come home, fill the radio. They paint disturbing pictures of the Japanese and what they’ve done. The quotes remind me of the story Unbroken, that tells of Louis Zamperini being held captive in a Japanese P.O.W. camp. We praise our war heroes for the things they endured and lived to tell about. Yet, we hide the fact that we also rounded up and imprisoned many innocent (American) people of Japanese descent.
ReplyDelete“Let it go. . . You’re free now . . .all you have to do is behave.” Their tragedy is buried while the one felt by the American soldiers is elevated and criticized as a gross violation of human rights. We have skewed what it is to be American, and even the children at the end of the novel place their American identity in conforming and assimilating to the norms of the culture around them. For fear of retaliation and prejudice, they keep quiet about their experience in the camp.
The connection I’m trying to make between what happened in Japan, and in America is found in some questions that I could not let go of as soon as I finished the novel. Why are some people portrayed in our world as more important than others? Our country benefits those born here instead of recognizing that we are all children of sojourners and immigrants. Our media tells stories of some tragedies, while completely neglecting and shadowing others. Why are some tragedies worthier of reconciliation than others? We see this cover-up of a failure in our country on page 119 when soldiers and P.O.W.s share their stories, yet the Japanese-Americans are seemingly silenced. We see this today in current events and it is heartbreaking. It is heartbreaking that we can see criticize the Japanese for what they have done, but turn around and hypocritically do almost the same thing, in the name of peace.
What does it mean to be American? This question is woven throughout the novella as the mom and children struggle to answer it themselves. The passage on page 119 shows how one group is shamed and discriminated against while another is praised and honored for being “American.” The children see American as a different culture they need to copy in order to be safe. “We would join their clubs . . . we would listen to their music . . . we would never be mistaken for the enemy again!” (p. 118) This is so sad considering America is supposed to be this place of understanding and inclusion. It is supposed to be a welcoming community where we share ideas and build new amazing projects, it should be the embodiment of hope. Yet instead, for so many minorities, it is not. It is a place of discrimination where long overdue change is needed. “American” should not mean a race or nationality, it should mean: human that lives in freedom in the United States.