How Society can be Inhumane. Society can treat people with care and respect, other times, it can be very harsh and cruel. Unfortunately, society keeps proving people right about how it can be devastating to some people. In Julie Otsuka’s When the Emperor was Divine, Japanese American families were sent to internment camps where they were degraded and left to fend for themselves when they were released, giving them little to no compensation. The main family in the novel is separated from their father long before they were sent to the camp. When they all returned home, nothing was the same. The hardships they face before, during, and after the camp will change everything. In Otsuka’s novel, the family experiences a person vs society conflict …show more content…
In the morning they had washed their faces in the long tin troughs and at night they had slept on mattresses stuffed with straw.” (Otsuka 30). The family boarded that train, not expecting anything of the living conditions. They had no clue if it would be clean and sanitary, or dirty and old. When they arrived, they were met with living conditions equal to that of a horse, making them feel degraded. They didn’t even have a bed, instead they were given mattresses stuffed with straw. Otsuka uses this conflict to show that society didn’t believe the Japanese Americans who were being sent to the internment camps deserved nothing more than the living conditions of an animal, therefore comparing them to one. This would eventually make the boy even more anxious, this is shown when he goes out onto the racetrack at night and walks around in the mud. Although the family were met with these harsh conditions, they still remembered and always thought back to their time outside of Tanforan, where life was much better. The family was being treated with such disrespect during these times, and society felt no remorse …show more content…
They saw themselves as the enemies who bombed Pearl Harbor, not the family who was unrightfully taken from their homes and placed in an internment camp. By seeing how other people viewed them just because of Pearl Harbor, they took it upon themselves to believe that they were the ones in the wrong, even viewing themselves as the enemy. This represents just how much persecution and discrimination against a group of people can even be seen in the way the think about themselves. Being the scapegoats of society can have a harsh toll on someones view of themselves. Because the blame was put on the innocent Japanese Americans, their perception of themselves was torn and manipulated. Society could have gone after the true suspects of the bombing, but instead decided to put all their anger and frustration towards innocent people. Conflicts between a small group of people and the majority of society can result in catastrophic changes to the scapegoats of society, changing their view of themselves, not just the
But for some of the Japanese Americans, it was even harder after they were discharged from the internment camp. The evacuation and the internment had changed the lives of all Japanese Americans. The evacuation and internment affected the Wakatsuki family in three ways: the destruction of Papa’s self-esteem, the separation of the Wakatsuki family, and the change in their social status. The destruction of Papa’s self-esteem is one effect of the evacuation and internment. Before the evacuation and internment, Papa was proud; he had a self-important attitude, yet he was dignified.
It was no secret that when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, countless Americans were frightened on what will happen next. The attack transpiring during WW2 only added to the hysteria of American citizens. According to the article “Betrayed by America” it expressed,”After the bombing many members of the public and media began calling for anyone of Japanese ancestry။citizens or not။to be removed from the West Coast.”(7) The corroboration supports the reason why America interned Japanese-Americans because it talks about Americans wanting to remove Japanese-Americans from the West Coast due to Japan bombing America. Japan bombing America led to Americans grow fear and hysteria. Fear due to the recent attack caused internment because Americans were afraid of what people with Japanese ancestry could do. In order to cease the hysteria, America turned to internment. American logic tells us that by getting the Japanese-Americans interned, many
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a major shock for America, and it created extreme fear and paranoia that the Japanese-Americans would help Japan win the war. There was a widespread stigma of anti-Japanese attitudes and racism; therefore, the government concluded it was easier to seclude them from the rest of America. The Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps where their identity was stripped from them and their privacy was taken away. Some individuals were not only sent to internment camps, but also detention camps, which altered their physical and mental state significantly.
The novel, When The Emperor Was Divine, tells the story of a Japanese family who was told to go to camp to be in surveillance during World War II, where Japan was an enemy of the United States. The story begins with signs being put up in communities to inform people of the internment of Japanese Americans, and one of the main characters, the mother “read the sign from top to bottom… wrote down a few words… then turned around and went home to pack” (Otsuka 3). The mother is told to follow the orders of the government and she complies due to her beliefs about the government, that they have positive intentions. The Japanese family left their home and were marginalized out of their community and were ordered to go to an internment camp. The reason for their evacuation and of other Japanese Americans is that since Japan was an enemy of the United States during World War II, many Americans in the United States believed that Japanese Americans were spies and were on the opposing side of the war. Americans did not trust Japanese Americans anymore and the Japanese were soon discriminated and marginalized in the community, just like the Japanese family in the novel, because the American communities felt threatened by their
In a portion of Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s memoir titled Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne’s Japanese family, living in California, is ordered to move to an internment camp called Manzanar. Society impacts the family in many ways, but in this segment of the story we primarily see its effects on Jeanne. The context and setting are as follows: the Pearl Harbor bombing was a very recent happening, the United States was entering into war with Japan, and President Roosevelt had signed Executive Order 9066, allowing internment. Anyone who might threaten the war effort was moved inland into defined military areas. Essentially, the Japanese immigrants were imprisoned and considered a threat; nevertheless, many managed to remain positive and compliant. Jeanne’s family heard “the older heads, the Issei, telling others very quietly ‘Shikata ga nai’” (604), meaning it cannot be helped, or it must be done, even though the world surrounding them had become aggressive and frigid. The society had a noticeable effect on Jeanne, as it impacted her view of racial divides, her family relations, and her health.
The United States of America a nation known for allowing freedom, equality, justice, and most of all a chance for immigrants to attain the American dream. However, that “America” was hardly recognizable during the 1940’s when President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, ordering 120,000 Japanese Americans to be relocated to internment camps. As for the aftermath, little is known beyond the historical documents and stories from those affected. Through John Okada’s novel, No-No Boy, a closer picture of the aftermath of the internment is shown through the events of the protagonist, Ichiro. It provides a more human perspective that is filled with emotions and connections that are unattainable from an ordinary historical document. In the novel, Ichiro had a life full of possibilities until he was stripped of his entire identity and had to watch those opportunities diminish before him. The war between Japan and the United States manifested itself into an internal way between his Japanese and American identities. Ichiro’s self-deprecating nature that he developed from this identity clash clearly questions American values, such as freedom and equality which creates a bigger picture of this indistinguishable “America” that has been known for its freedom, equality, and helping the oppressed.
The racial conflict with Japanese-Americans began when the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, a military naval base located in the state of Hawaii. “Behind them they left chaos, 2,403 dead, 188 destroyed planes, and a crippled Pacific Fleet that included 8 damaged or destroyed battleships” (“Attack” 1). The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on the Empire of Japan. The fear that resulted from the attack on Pearl Harbor caused many white Americans to hate the Japanese-Americans. Many Japanese were accused of being spies and were arrested without proof. “Rabid anti-Japanese American racism surfaced the first days after Pearl Harbor. The FBI and the military had been compiling lists of "potentially dangerous" Japanese Americans since 1932, but most were merely teachers, businessmen or journalists” (Thistlethwaite 1). In February of 1942, all of the Japanese on the West Coast of the United States were sent to internment camps.
While there was great strategic value for the attack on Pearl Harbor it was an unacceptable affront to American’s. Japan’s greediness for land ended in a mass killing by atomic bombs being dropped on their homeland. The mass killing of American’s in the United States led to an outcry of mass anger towards Japan. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was one of the most atrocious attacks to have ever happened, but ultimately led to the ending of the
Prior and during the war, the Japanese were known for their citizens’ extreme loyalty and commitment to their nation, but after the dropping of the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, some of these feelings diminished within the Japanese nation. Prior to the dropping of the atomic bomb, over 70% of people in Japan believed that their nation could come out on top in the war even after more than a decade of constant fighting and the Japanese being on the defensive for over three years since the Battle of Midway. Directly after the use of the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the percentage of Japanese people that believed that defeat was inevitable rose to over 50%. Many people in the two cities that were bombed by the United States were affected more so than the rest of the Japanese population. For example, a 25% increase in suicidal thoughts was reported in the two cities struck by America’s new deadly weapon.
This caused the Japanese to become a scapegoat of America’s fear and anger. The Issei and Nisei who once moved to this country to find new opportunities and jobs were now stripped of their homes and businesses and were forced to live in poor living conditions (DISCovering). Although many Americans believed that Japanese American internment was justified because it was used to protect us from attacks by Japanese Americans, it was very unlikely that they were ever going to attack us in the first place. For example, in Dr. Seuss’ political cartoon, many Japanese Americans are lined up to get TNT and waiting for a signal from Japan to attack (Seuss).
World War Two was one of the biggest militarized conflicts in all of human history, and like all wars it lead to the marginalization of many people around the world. We as Americans saw ourselves as the great righteous liberators of those interned into concentration camps under Nazi Germany, while in reality our horse was not that much higher than theirs. The fear and hysteria following the attacks on pearl harbour lead to the forced removal and internment of over 110,000 Japanese American residents (Benson). This internment indiscriminately applied to both first and second generation Japanese Americans, Similarly to those interned in concentration camps, they were forced to either sell, store or leave behind their belongings. Reshma Memon Yaqub in her article “You People Did This,” describes a similar story to that of the Japanese Americans. The counterpart event of pearl harbour being the attacks on the world trade
World War II was a time of deliberate hate among groups of innocent people who were used as scapegoats. Japanese-Americans were persecuted due to the fact that they looked like citizens of Japan, who had attacked the United States on December 7th, 1941 at the naval base, Pearl Harbor. This hatred toward the group was due to newspapers creating a scare for the American people, as well as the government restricting the rights of Japanese-Americans. The Japanese-Americans were mistreated during World War II for no other reason than being different. These men, women, and children were loathed by the American public for looking like the people of the Japanese army that had attacked the United States. These people were only hated by association, even though many had come to the United States to create a better life for their family.
On December 7,1941 Japan raided the airbases across the islands of Pearl Harbour. The “sneak attack” targeted the United States Navy. It left 2400 army personnel dead and over a thousand Americans wounded. U.S. Navy termed it as “one of the great defining moments in history”1 President Roosevelt called it as “A Day of Infamy”. 2 As this attack shook the nation and the Japanese Americans became the immediate ‘focal point’. At that moment approximately 112,000 Persons of Japanese descent resided in coastal areas of Oregon, Washington and also in California and Arizona.3
Inevitably, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, that began World War II, Japanese-Americans were frowned upon and stereotyped because of their descent. However, Japanese immigrants contributed to economic expansion of the United States. Whites resented the Japanese immigrants, but reaped economic profit from the Japanese-American residents’ discipline and hard work. Japanese-Americans of this time seem to be attacked; however, they choose to uphold their disconnection with the rest of the Americans. Many Japanese felt they had superiority over Americans, creating tension and disconnection.
In Julie Otsuka’s novel, When the Emperor was Divine, the boy’s emotions are embodied through animals. In mid 1942, the boy and his family are displaced from their home in Berkeley, CA, and relocated to an internment camp. The family is forcibly imprisoned in response to Executive Order 9066, due to their Japanese heritage. The boy’s initial hope and innocence are expressed through a tortoise. The disappearance of these virtues become evident through the animal’s demise. Additionally, images of wild horses display the boy’s desire for freedom and an identity, while their death illustrates his inability to aspire to such things. A tortoise and horses manifest the boy’s internal struggles with his internment. The life and death of the creatures