The Emperor Was Divine by Juilie Otsuka, tell the story of a Japanese family going through World War II at the internment camps. The family faced humiliation, suffering and despair throughout the book. The dad got arrested by the FBI leaving the mother alone with the children. The book start out with the mom having to prepare for leaving their home up having to go to the internment camp, following instructions, having to release the bird, giving away the cat and killing the dog. In the book Juilie Otsuka chose not to give the main characters names but refers them as the father, the mother, the son, and the daughter. The novel When The Emperor Was Divine showed that Japanese Americans went through the agony of the internment camps, left behind
…show more content…
In the novel the boy describes what is the camp like, describing it like almost a prison camp. "On Their First Day in the desert his mother had said, "Be careful." "Do not touch the barbed-wire fence," she had said, "or talk to the guards in the towers" (Otsuka 52). This gives a feeling of being watched and having to be careful what do do, not alarming the guards that he is trying to escape. He also described the food in camp "The smell of liver drifting out across the black barracks roofs. The smell of catfish. From time to time, the smell of horse meat" (Otsuka 50). The horse meat disgusts many readers, adding an effect that it's to save money, implying that the government treats the Japanese lowly almost the equivalent to …show more content…
Throughout the book Japanese families try to hide their culture from society being, and some not keeping their culture at all, totally adapting of being American. For instance the mother warned the son not to say the Emperor's name out loud. "And remember, never say the Emperor's name out loud" (Otsuka 52). Saying the Emperor's name is considered a taboo in America because a at that time America and Japan is at war, and some of the Japanese citizens came over to America. Saying the Emperor's name would signalize that you are still loyal to him. Also the mother instructed her kids to answer Chinese to anyone who ask about their ethnicity. "No more rice balls," she said. "And if anyone asks, you're Chinese" (Otsuka 75) After the internment camps society had viewed the Japanese very different, thinking them as criminals because they basically went to a prison camp. This forced the family to lie about their ethnicity. After being released from the internment camps, society viewed the Japanese as criminals. In the book when they got back everything was different, people was treating them different, it was like they were treated as how society treats blacks. "They said the signs in the windows were the same wherever they went: NO JAPS ALLOWED." (Otsuka 67) This shows that people are discriminating Japanese people, and has some form of segregation
In the novel the boy describes what is the camp like, describing it like almost a prison camp. "On Their First Day in the desert his mother had said, "Be careful." "Do not touch the barbed-wire fence," she had said, "or talk to the guards in the towers" (Otsuka 52). This gives a feeling of being watched and having to be careful what do do, not alarming the guards that he is trying to escape. He also described the food in camp "The smell of liver drifting out across the black barracks roofs. The smell of catfish. From time to time, the smell of horse meat" (Otsuka 50). The horse meat disgusts many readers, adding an effect that it's to save money, implying that the government treats the Japanese lowly almost the equivalent to …show more content…
Throughout the book Japanese families try to hide their culture from society being, and some not keeping their culture at all, totally adapting of being American. For instance the mother warned the son not to say the Emperor's name out loud. "And remember, never say the Emperor's name out loud" (Otsuka 52). Saying the Emperor's name is considered a taboo in America because a at that time America and Japan is at war, and some of the Japanese citizens came over to America. Saying the Emperor's name would signalize that you are still loyal to him. Also the mother instructed her kids to answer Chinese to anyone who ask about their ethnicity. "No more rice balls," she said. "And if anyone asks, you're Chinese" (Otsuka 75) After the internment camps society had viewed the Japanese very different, thinking them as criminals because they basically went to a prison camp. This forced the family to lie about their ethnicity. After being released from the internment camps, society viewed the Japanese as criminals. In the book when they got back everything was different, people was treating them different, it was like they were treated as how society treats blacks. "They said the signs in the windows were the same wherever they went: NO JAPS ALLOWED." (Otsuka 67) This shows that people are discriminating Japanese people, and has some form of segregation