Farewell To Manzanar Research Paper

Manzanar was an internment camp, an internment camp in which thousands of Asian Americans were wrongly imprisoned for nothing other than the way they looked. Among those seas of people was a young girl named Jeanne who, because of Manzanar, could only sit and watch as the camp tore her family apart. During World War II, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, all Japanese Americans began to be looked at with hateful eyes; suddenly every person of Japanese descent was a threat and loyal to Japan's emperor. Because of the post Pearl Harbor fear, all Japanese Americans were forced from their peaceful lives and relocated into internment camps. In the autobiography “Farewell to Manzanar,” by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, we see her describing her and her …show more content…
Papa had originally been sent to a different camp in North Dakota because he was thought to be bringing oil to Japanese ships using his fishing boat, so the family was left alone for the first few months in Manzanar. But when he came back, he wasn't the same person he was before he left. “And it was typical of his behavior during those days. He world putter blandly along, then suddenly, unexpectedly, as to remind himself he was still in charge of something, he would burst out like that. forcing distance between us”(105). Before Manzanar, Papa had been so energetic and upbeat, singing and dancing with his kids, but after he had a cold and repulsive demeanor. Not only did he have a limp when he returned, but he also had brought a noticeable weight on his shoulders. Nevertheless, Jeanne was not aware of what had happened to him in North Dakota, but she knew it must have been horrible. As a result, he began to drink and when he drank he became very aggressive, especially towards Mama. This aggression caused Jeanne to try and create space between her and her father, space which was never removed. Before their time at Manzanar, Jeannes sister had become pregnant and was due to deliver while she was still in Manzanar. But the hospitals at Manzanar didn't have the greatest reputation, so when both her and the baby were healthy Mama and Papa saw it as a miracle, but all that …show more content…
It wasn't loneliness I felt or isolation. A brief flicker of total separateness. This scene happened to be set in one of the firebreaks at Manzanar”(106). Before Manzanar, Jeanne had only felt love from her parents. Being the youngest of many children had its upsides, whether it was birthdays or holidays, Jeanne always felt welcome. But after they had left their California home, Jeanne’s parents seemed to put her on the back burner. Papa was too occupied by his anger and had dove deeper into his drinking, while Mama had been nothing but overwhelmed with both managing her kids and a little later on, managing Papa while Jeanne had tried to get attention elsewhere-like from her siblings or in school. She had never felt as close to her parents again. While Jeannes had mainly felt the difference in her and her parents' relationships, everyone had felt a shift in their family's dynamic. Whether it was small disagreements or full blown screaming matches, no one could seem to agree. Lastly, the Wakatsuki’s conflicting