An Analysis Of Julie Otsuka's When The Emperor Was Divine

When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka is a novel about the hardships that the Japanese-Americans faced during a time in which they were forced to live in internment camps. There is a scene which depicts a middle-aged woman who ties her dog to a tree, then proceeds to lay her pet in a hole that she previously digs into the ground, telling it to play dead. The woman then picks up a shovel wearing white gloves and strikes the dog in the head. She buries it in her backyard before her kids come home from their last day of school. The white gloves show an absence of evil in her intent. White is a gentle color: it is the color of our walls, the sky, and the snow that falls from the clouds on Christmas. It is important for the author to show that the woman is not malevolent because it establishes her character as a person with goodwill.

This is further evidence that the woman has compassion for the dog because she wants the dog to minimize the dog’s suffering. The author is making the point that the woman is not crazy or violent, but she actually does this for the betterment of her and the dog’s situation. She tries to kill the dog in the most merciful manner that she can. When the woman refers to the dog, she calls it “White Dog”: “A small white dog came limping out of the trees. ” (p 10). This name is a symbol for the nature of the situation that the country is in at the moment. In this case, “white” stands for the innocent Japanese-Americans who are being stripped from their rights and the word “dog” symbolizes how other Americans are treating the Japanese with harsh, unfair