Otsuk A Scene Analysis

In the novel, the scene is started in the year of 1942 in Berkeley California. The mother sees an evacuation notice hung by the entrance to the YMCA. “It was stapled to the door of the municipal court and nailed, at eye level, to every telephone pole along University Avenue” (Otsuka 3). This shows that in the novel that the Japanese-Americans were told to evacuate due to the war that was going to happen. The mother continues to go home and she stops at Lund’s Hardware store because they were having a bargain on shovels, but she did not need a third. Joe Lundy was talking to the mother about her roof and then he began to wipe the register. “There was a dark stain there that would not go away” (Otsuka 5). This shows that they want to forget about …show more content…
The mother never enters the daughter’s room because the mother respects the daughter’s privacy. “The door to the girl’s room was closed. Above the doorknob was a note that had not been there the day before. It said DO NOT DISTURB. The mother did not open the door” (Otsuka 7). This shows that the mother respected the daughter’s privacy. On the evacuation notice pets were not allowed to come so the mother gave the cat to the next door neighbors, she killed the chicken, she released the pet bird and the most horrible death was the white dog. “The mother picked up the large shovel that was leaning against the truck of the tree. She lifted it high in the air with both hands and brought the blade shuddered twice and his hind legs kicked out into the air, as though he were trying to run. Then grew still” (Otsuka 11). Otsuka refers to her main characters without names because she wants you to see how they act and really are without giving them any names. Many families were taken into the camp not only their family. Many Japanese-American’s identities were taken away before evacuation. Otsuka does not want you to think of them as Japanese, she wants to get you to know