Desert Exile is a memoir and a first-person account of one of the unfortunate periods in the development of America as a diverse nation. The memoir is an account of an immigrant’s journey to finding the American dream at a time when there were so many opposing factors. The memoir is one by Yoshiko Uchida, a second-generation Japanese American (Nisei) who grew up in Berkley, California with her sister and parents. Yoshiko brings to light not only her family’s experiences but also on the experiences of other Japanese Americans during World War II, when the United States government initiated a policy, Executive Order 9066, for the incarceration of 110,000 Japanese ancestry, most of whom were American citizens. The book brings into focus a lot
…show more content…
In the first two chapter of the book, she explains the first generation Japanese immigrant’s (Issei) assimilation into American society, her father’s various struggles in order to care for her family, and how the Japanese Independent Congregational Church helped them and other Japanese immigrant families like them. The author then explains how early on she learned how different she was among her white classmates and friends. With some being friendly and accommodating to her, such as her German and Norwegian neighbors, and others being wary of …show more content…
While Uchida has an easier time assimilating into the new environment, she still spends most of her time befriending other Nisei. Yet even among people of Japanese descent, she still notices something: she notices the struggle with her identity as both Japanese and American. The Issei do not fully accept her due to the fact that is cannot speak Japanese and is not fully connected with her culture, yet the Americans do not fully accept her because she is not White. The severity of the exclusion in her society further continues when the attack on Pearl Harbor began. As a result of the attack, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) took Uchida’s father away from them the US government decides to round up the Japanese Americans as a military precaution. While the whole act is a major violation of basic human rights, it was done due to the fact that they simply resemble the enemy and that the White Americans did not believe that the Japanese in America could be disloyal to their motherland. The government rushed for Japanese Americans to gather only a few of their belongings and “voluntarily” report to a “government assembly center.” Before deadline to meet at the assembly center, Uchida reveals the day-to-day anxieties that revolved around evacuation, forcing them to leave and sell their beloved possessions, and also further describes the experiences of other Issei and
In the first two chapter of the book, she explains the first generation Japanese immigrant’s (Issei) assimilation into American society, her father’s various struggles in order to care for her family, and how the Japanese Independent Congregational Church helped them and other Japanese immigrant families like them. The author then explains how early on she learned how different she was among her white classmates and friends. With some being friendly and accommodating to her, such as her German and Norwegian neighbors, and others being wary of …show more content…
While Uchida has an easier time assimilating into the new environment, she still spends most of her time befriending other Nisei. Yet even among people of Japanese descent, she still notices something: she notices the struggle with her identity as both Japanese and American. The Issei do not fully accept her due to the fact that is cannot speak Japanese and is not fully connected with her culture, yet the Americans do not fully accept her because she is not White. The severity of the exclusion in her society further continues when the attack on Pearl Harbor began. As a result of the attack, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) took Uchida’s father away from them the US government decides to round up the Japanese Americans as a military precaution. While the whole act is a major violation of basic human rights, it was done due to the fact that they simply resemble the enemy and that the White Americans did not believe that the Japanese in America could be disloyal to their motherland. The government rushed for Japanese Americans to gather only a few of their belongings and “voluntarily” report to a “government assembly center.” Before deadline to meet at the assembly center, Uchida reveals the day-to-day anxieties that revolved around evacuation, forcing them to leave and sell their beloved possessions, and also further describes the experiences of other Issei and