Evans Shannon Evans 9/13/2011 ENG 270: Asian American Literature The Nail That Sticks Up Gets Hammered

Down. The Long Term Influences and Impacts of the Japanese Internment Camps

Inferiority, a feeling of unworthiness or shame, can easily develop in all humans at some point in ones life, yet as many can attest too it is not a feeling that is easily overcome. This is something the characters of Julie Otsukas novel When the Emperor Was Divine know very well. During World War 2, almost immediately after Pearl Harbor, the lives of many Japanese Americans were forever affected. Numerous father figures being plucked from their homes was only just the beginning, for almost half a decade they continued to face various stereotyping, inequalities, and injustices from their own government. When the Internment began the U.S civilians received the message that these feelings and actions towards the Japanese Americans were encouraged by Uncle Sam himself. Julie Otsukas fictional but very convincing account of a family is an eye opener for many who do not realize all the vast and prolonging effects the internment has had. Each character goes through a similar process where they have to endure a mental battle between their pride and shame of their ancestry. Not only were they subjected to feeling unworthy, they also had to silently abide to everything the U.S government asked. The Internment at its longest was 3 to 5 years, but the mental effects have been inscribed in its victims for their lives. Julie Otsuka tries to prove this by having readers feel the personal effects themselves through reading her novel. It is so convincing that even though this story is fabricated the situations remain so lifelike, thus yielding such a deep impact for her audience, even 50 years

Evans later. As much as the American government thought it was sufficient, the change in each person could not be fixed by a train ticket home and $25 (the amount criminals received as they were released from prison).The Internment has served as an infinite example of how the land of the free could suddenly without warning enforce its stipulations. At the beginning of the short novel the reader sees a woman hiding valuables, breaking heirlooms and even killing a family pet. Ones first thoughts may be Is she crazy? What could possess someone to do such things? The answer in this scenario is pure force. The reality of the womans situation is thrust in ones face when one reads The Woman picked up the large shovel that was leaning against the trunk of the tree. She lifted it high in the air with both hands and brought the blade down swiftly on his head (13). This is the first glimpse you get of the woman really doing what she has to do. This action shows the severity of their situation and the kind of strength she has to possess to unwillingly give up their dog. Not only is the murder of white dog particularly deafening but the destruction of all Japanese memories and heirlooms hits a tone. The novel does very well in situating the readers to put themselves in the womans shoes. The adults in the book go through a different kind of experience than their children. They are too old to be completely manipulated, so instead they are made to show a good example of loyalty to America for their children to emulate. An example of this situation is served to them in the form of surveys, loyalty questionnaires. The Issei generation had a particular struggle in agreeing to some of the questions such as Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese Emperor, or any other foreign government, power or organization? (61).

Evans It is quite clear that the nature of these questions is purposefully uncomfortable. The Issei generation is made to submit themselves unwillingly. It seems quite an ironic injustice to make a group pledge their allegiance in writing to America, the country imprisoning them. The Nissei generation also sees this silent willingness and interprets it as a message to be passive and to always do what is asked of them. Children of the second generation (born in America) are especially susceptible to this influence. This can be seen through the boy and the girl in When the Emperor Was Divine. In the novel the change in the children is not complete until you see them return from the camps in the section In a Strangers Backyard. Upon their arrival they have to see their house, the place they have been dreaming of for years, in a state of ruin. It has been vandalized and almost everything is gone. 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 our mother, and several years later when we had money to buy paint, we did, but for years we could not get those words out of our heads (68). Those words were another element that made the children feel shame. Their own house, their sanctuary had been subjected to the prejudice. The night of their return you see the mental toll the internment had just from them picking the room that had looked most like their barrack, as if they belonged in what resembled a barrack. They are also instantly apologetic in public, always blaming themselves. The beginning of this is seen in the camp when the boy says Sometimes he worried he was there because he'd done something horribly, terribly wrong. But then he tried to remember what that horrible, terrible thing might be, it would not

Evans come to him. It could be anything. Something he'd done yesterday chewing the eraser off his sister's pencil before putting it back in the pencil jar or something he'd done a long time ago that was just now catching up with him (38). The boy knows that the camp is a punishment of some sort but he struggles, not knowing why he is being punished, this could ultimately give him a sense of shame for just being who he is, an Asian American. As a child, the boy is still somewhat defiant. He is not willing to endure his sufferings quietly. This is shown through his whisper shouts of Hirohito, Hirohito, Hirohito (35). The girl is also affected early on, one see this through the girls attitude towards her looks, being particularly unsatisfied with her face. Is there anything wrong with my face? She asked Why said the Woman. People were staring (15). Some could attribute this to normal adolescents concerns but the girl echoes her issues while viewing her mother, often talking about her face as well. This shows it is more likely a concern with her Asian features. Many Americans stared at Japanese Americans and were cruel about their facial features. The Anti Jap media had the ability to make any Asian self-conscious. It is interesting to not only see the susceptibility of children but also their gender differences. Although these things seem like small concerns, it is evidence of their weakened minds. It is easy to see how their thoughts such as these could leave them feeling guilty, shameful, and sorry without even understanding why. This also serves as evidence to assume why their two voices in Train and When the Emperor was Divine are merged into one in In a Strangers Backyard. They lose their individual ways of thinking and reasoning and grow up to believe (or at least act like they believe) they are inferior to other Americans. This is also presented by the different ways they are treated by the neighborhood before and after the camp. They went from hearing Your house or mine? (73). to now hearing nothing besides the occasional politeness. Their old friends act like they dont even

Evans recognize them. They take measures to try and blend in (staying quiet, changing their names to sound more American) but nothing can change how they feel. The culmination of these things show how their prejudice, and traumatic experiences aided in easily brainwashing them to feel guilt. The last chapter in the novel, Confession, the father mockingly states that he is all the things the Americans portray him to be. The section is the perfect ending when it comes to understanding the toll the interrogations and camps could take on ones mind. As an adult his piece is written with a sense of sarcasm or spite (fake guilt), but it helps to see how the children were made to feel real guilt without ever being able to fully understand why. The effects of the Japanese Internment lasted much longer than the years they were away. As one can see through reading When the Emperor Was Divine the influences could last a lifetime, especially for the Nissei generation. The change in environment or treatment for an extended amount of time during childhood is critically damaging. In this case the boy and girls self-esteem is completely altered. Every member of the familys personality suffers in some way. The children are unable to just pick up the pieces of their old life; they cannot leave where they left off. The mother and father are also different. They are older, more worn out; the years of separation and aging cannot be undone. The young happy energetic father the children have always envisioned is gone and in his place a silent serious stranger. The internment caused a broken family, never to be truly at home in America again. The injustices the Japanese Americans endured went often unapologized for until only recently, many of the Issei probably werent even around to hear it. A classic case of too little, too late. Not to mention apologizing for taken away a few years of their life will never be enough. Instead one can only acknowledge the sufferings and changes the Japanese Americans had to accommodate for a lifetime in the Land of the Free.

Evans Works Cited Otsuka, Julie. When the Emperor Was Divine. London: Penguin, 2004.