Farewell To Manzanar Analysis

The goal of this document is the analytical breakdown of Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s book titled Farewell to Manzanar. The book is a recollection of her time at an internment camp called ‘Manzanar’ when she was a child along with a few excerpts to give depth to some of the events that took place. As noted in the p.s before the book begins, she and her husband decided to write the story of what life was like in the internment camps and not focussing on the overall scheme of how “an injustice was done.” (Wakatsuki Houston, Foreward) since many were already in agreement on that matter and the topic considered old and tired. The focus of this paper will be on how the events affected her childhood, broke her family, emphasized her ethnicity, and …show more content…
The group consisted of her father who was the patriarch of the family, mother, four older brothers, and five older sisters in addition to the wives of her two older brothers. Great efforts were made when it was concluded that those of Japanese descent would be relocated to various camps. “Mama and my older brothers had succeeded in keeping most of us together, on the same bus, headed for the same camp. I didn’t realize until much later what a job that was. The strategy had been, first, to have everyone living in the same district when the evacuation began, and then to get all of us included under the same family number, even though names had been changed by marriage.” (Wakatsuki Houston, p. 17 of 2019). Her family struggled to hold tightly to the family, hoping to keep them all together and postpone strife that would happen with …show more content…
She took notice of Sister Mary Suzanne and Sister Mary Bernadette with their hoods of white and robes of black, two Maryknoll nuns who acted as missionaries to “go into a country, with knowledge of its language, and convert its people to the Catholic faith.” (Wakatsuki Houston, p. 42 of 209) and also care for the orphans where they stayed. She talked of how despite having a Buddhist shrine in the house and celebrating a few holidays with religious ties, her family did not actually attend services. Her interest lay in the saints and martyrs the Maryknoll nuns told stories of, no form of schooling was set up and thus her days were filled with the tragic tales. Once her father returned, he voiced against her attending the church and a bout of sunstroke broke her routine of traversing between her home and the Maryknoll