Essay On When The Emperor Was Divine

Today when one hears about World War II he automatically thinks of concentration camps and how horrible the Germans were. However, the book “When the Emperor was Divine,” which is based on true scenarios, shows the hardships faced by the Japanese in America after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. “When the Emperor was Divine” is told from the point of view of a Japanese family to show the hardships faced by many Japanese descended families. The story is fiction but uses scenarios faced by many Japanese families. In the story the family was sent to an internment camp and faced horrendous hardships during their time in the camp. The internment camps and the way the Japanese were treated show an issue of social policy in this story. An issue

of social policy can be something that is considered corrupt or immoral to today’s society. One can assume the story is accurate because there are various other articles to prove that the internment camps were unjust. The internment camps would be considered socially immoral to the people in today’s society thus creating an issue of social policy. An issue of social policy when reading a story or an article is an issue in which what is being written about is socially unacceptable; in “When the Emperor was Divine” there are various examples of an issue of social policy, specifically the atrocious living quarters and harsh environment they were forced to live in.
In the story “When the Emperor was Divine” one of the many socially immoral issues is that the Japanese were forced to stay in atrocious living quarters. The barracks were typically constructed with “pine planks covered with tar paper.” (Topaz Camp) The tar papers offered little to no insulation against the extreme climates and the walls were so thin that one could hear “noises drifting from other rooms.” (Otsuka 51) In the story the family of three stayed in a small one room barrack with “three iron cots” (Otsuka 50) for sleeping, a coal stove which was used for heating “but cooking in the residential areas was discouraged,” (Topaz Camp) and one bare lightbulb to see. The family also had “a table made out of cratewood.” (Otsuka 51) In many instances families made their own décor for their barracks in order to make them seem a little homier such as “tables, chairs, and shelves” (Topaz Camp) made out of scraps of lumber lying around the camp. The family form the story is no different; the family had a tin clock, a jar of paper flowers and a photo of “Joe DiMaggio” (Otsuka 51) which was torn from a magazine. However, the family had no running water in the barrack and had to walk to the bathrooms which were almost half a block away. The internment camps were very communal and offered little to no privacy for the Japanese detainees. The Japanese were forced to survive in nearly unlivable conditions and were treated almost as prisoners of war during their time at the internment camps.
In “When the Emperor was Divine” the Japanese were forced to succumb to very extreme climates during their stays in the internment camps.

At the camps the temperature in the winter was typically “near or below zero” (Topaz Camp) and during the summer the temperature would “soar to the nineties or above.” (Topaz Camp) At the Topaz camp the air was very dry and the “alkaline earth could not absorb any water” (Otsuka 77) so when it rained or snowed the ground became very muddy causing the schools to be “shut down for repairs” (Otsuka 77). The dry and earth caused constant dust clouds which made it difficult to breath for the young boy who pressed a “scarf to his face” (Otsuka 48) in order to stop himself from coughing. Often there were dust storms making it nearly impossible to see and when the boy slept he would cover his mouth with a wet rag but would still wake up with a “gritty taste of chalk” (Otsuka 77) in his mouth. In the cooler climates school children would take “their benches outside to sit in the sun” (Topaz Camp) in order to gain a little warmth while the classrooms were being finished. At the end of September in 1942 “the first killing frost was recorded” (Topaz Camp) then just weeks later the first snowfall was recorded. In many of the barracks there were “no windows installed” (Topaz Camp) at this time making it nearly impossible to escape the harsh cold. The Japanese were forced to succumb to the harsh climate of the desert, with nearly no shelter or breathable air, because of crimes that most of the detainees did not

commit.
An issue of social policy often seen in “When the Emperor was Divine” is the atrocious living quarters and harsh environment they were forced to live in. Most of the Japanese were detained for crimes they did not commit and lived in nearly unlivable conditions. The housing was atrocious and many had to walk a long distance to the nearest bathroom which was shared with others in the camp. The air was barely breathable and when it precipitated it became nearly impossible to walk due to all of the mud. Most of the housing and other buildings were not yet finished and students were forced to go outside in the sweltering heat or blistering cold. These actions are very immoral and it shows a large issue in social policy. Many people in today’s society would be appalled if that were to happen today. The internment camps also greatly resemble the concentration camps that were used by the Germans. The hardships faced by the family in the story “When the Emperor was Divine” are based off of true experiences faced by many of the Japanese during World War II. The novel does a brilliant job at showing the issue of social policy which was forced upon the Japanese during this time.