When The Emperor Was Divine By Julie Otsuka

After the attack the Japanese who was in America was forced to leave their homes to go live in government camps. At this time a person whom was Japanese, was not considered a naturalized citizen of the United States. Jeanne’s father was arrested and was contained at Ft. Lincoln. She and the rest of her family was relocated three times till they finally arrived at Manzanar. Jeanne was seven years old when she came to Manzanar.

In the novel when the emperor was divine written by Julie otsuka. Otsuka describes the experiences of the Japanese internment. The relocation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps during World War II. while there was terror in Europe with the Nazis and Jews the Americans accused the American-japanese of being spies for japan. Julie uses different characters in the book to describe how the camps treated them, from their point of view.

The novel, Farewell to Manzanar, by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston is about Wakatsuki and her family’s experience in the Internment Camp, Manzanar. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt issued executive order 9066 which allowed the unconstitutional arrest of all Japanese Americans. Wakatsuki’s father was arrested falsely arrested for giving oil to Japanese submarines. As a result, he spent ten months in a separate prison camp that completely changed him. In Chapter Five of Farewell to Manzanar, Wakatsuki writes about the first months she and her family spent in Manzanar without her father and then she describes how they react when Papa returns.

The memoir, “Farewell to Manzanar” by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, follow the life of the Wakatsuki family in Manzanar, going into depth how their new lives within the camps had a grave effect, altering the family dynamic of not only their family, but also that of all the internees. From the beginning, the authors open by portraying the sense of fear that swept across the Japanese community after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. They describe how Jeanne’s father, who although at the time of pre-war had been living the “American dream”, owning his own business, and having his children to help him on his two boats, now feared for his freedom, burning the Japanese flag, as well as, anything else that could tie him back to his country

In and out of internment camps, Jeanne Wakatsuki and her family faced discrimination because of their

Marginalization of Japanese Americans during WWII Imagine being in a public setting and people told you to leave because of the way you looked. In the book, When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka that is exactly what happened to a Japanese family in California. The family has forced out of their home and sent to an internment camp. The story is based on the stories of Japanese Americans during WWII. Forced marginalization affects people negatively due to isolation and a loss of cultural identity as it creates a stronger desire to fit in with society and creates distance from others who are marginalized.

Japanese people tend to have very similar facial features, but no person is the same. Being in these camps took away what makes each person unique; themselves. After the family got released from the internment camps they felt sort of empty. Like part of themselves had been taken. When the father returned from prison “He never talked about politics, or his arrest, or how he had lost all of teeth.

Zarif Rahman Ms. Bacon English 9-1 5 April 2023 When Fear Takes Over: Alienation and Isolation in When the Emperor was Divine Imagine if someone far away from a person commits a crime and then that person is sent to prison just because they look like the criminal, and once they leave prison, they are treated as if they are a criminal. This is what the family is forced to experience in Julie Otsuka’s, When the Emperor was Divine. The family is expelled from their home after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and is sent to a Japanese internment camp.

America, unfortunately, has a past stained with the cruel treatment of many different groups of people, from the relocation of American Indians and slavery of Africans in the 19th century. This pattern became evident when the United States issued the forced internment of Japanese-American citizens after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The common denominator of these unconstitutional ransoms of civil liberties lies with racial and ethnic dehumanization. In Mary Matsuda Gruenewald’s book, Looking Like the Enemy, she illustrates the dark injustices with her personal account of Japanese-American internment. Just three months after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066.

On December, 7th, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. As a result the Americans decided to intern those of Japanese descent on the west-coast of the United States. The Japanese were uprooted from their homes and were relocated to internment camps where they would live their lives for the next 4 years. Japanese internment was a horrid act put upon those of Japanese ancestry in World War II, only using the common good as a reason to judge why the Japanese should be interned. The Civil liberties of the Japanese on the west-coast were more important than the common good because there was no valid evidence that the Japanese were planning an attack with their homeland.

Mary Matsuda Gruenewald tells her tale of what life was like for her family when they were sent to internment camps in her memoir “Looking like the Enemy.” The book starts when Gruenewald is sixteen years old and her family just got news that Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japan. After the bombing Gruenewald and her family life changed, they were forced to leave their home and go to internment camps meant for Japanese Americans. During the time Gruenewald was in imprisonment she dealt with the struggle for survival both physical and mental. This affected Gruenewald great that she would say to herself “Am I Japanese?

Matsuda’s memoir is based off of her and her family’s experiences in the Japanese-American internment camps. Matsuda reveals what it is like during World War II as a Japanese American, undergoing family life, emotional stress, long term effects of interment, and her patriotism and the sacrifices she had to make being in the internment camps. Everyone living in Western section of the United States; California, Oregon, of Japanese descent were moved to internment camps after the Pearl Harbor bombing including seventeen year old Mary Matsuda Gruenewald and her family. Matsuda and her family had barely any time to pack their bags to stay at the camps. Matsuda and her family faced certain challenges living in the internment camp.

Furthermore, the United States should do more to compensate the families of those impacted by internment because the recompense provided initially was minimal and should be considered an affront to the memory of the victims. Prior to World War II, the 127,000 Japanese-Americans along America’s west coast (Japanese American Relocation and Internment Camps) were considered just another immigrant group coming to America searching for a better life. However, with the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, this perception soon saw a drastic change. The attack on the US Naval base on December 7th, 1941 left many casualties in its wake.

December 7th of 1941 America would face a horrific scene in their own homeland, the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor with their Air Force not once but twice. That same day President John F. Kennedy would decide to place the Japanese Americans, living in the country at the time, in internment camps. The civilians would not have a clue what they would be put up against, now they would have to encounter various obstacles to make sure they would be able to survive. “The camps were prisons, with armed soldiers around the perimeters, barbed wire. and controls over every aspect of life”(Chang).

The novel When the Emperor Was Divine tells a story of Japanese-American families during World War Two. During internment, the U.S. government rounded up many Japanese adults for investigation without first producing evidence that they committed any crimes. The father in this story has been arrested for the sane reason. Army would deport all Japanese Americans to military camps, thus commencing Japanese American internment. So, the woman with her girl and her boy have to move to a camp.