Julie Otsuka's When The Emperor Was Divine

When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka took place during one of the United States’ greatest acts of injustice, Japanese internment. This was a time of fear for Americans during World War 2 where our fear of Japan made us believe that we had to send Japanese-Americans to internment camps for the safety of our country. The situations that this internment created begins to wear down the characters in the story causing their beliefs to be dynamic. At the beginning of the book the mother appears confident in her social status and place in life. She is friendly to the people that she meets when going around the town and even starts a conversation with the man running the hardware store. The importance of her physical appearance is made obvious through the jewelry and the white silk gloves that she wore even while burying White Dog. The mother confidence in her ability to provide for her family is shown when she tells the girl that if she doesn’t like the chicken then she doesn’t have to eat it. The mother’s changes begin to become apparent as you reach the middle section of the book. This change is shown when she losses her pearl earring, and she says that she had no business wearing that earring in the camp. (Otsuka 86) This illustrates how they are made to think that they no longer deserve to have their freedoms while staying at the …show more content…
She was mad when she was shunned by her friends just because she shared the same appearance as the people that they had been at war against. Even her classroom assignments affected her by causing memories that she would probably prefer to be forgotten to resurface. With writing assignments such as “The Happiest Day of My Life. What I did over My Summer Vacation. What I Would like to Be when I Grow Up.” (Otsuka 122) You can’t really expect much expect for distress of being further separated from her