It is difficult to imagine waking up one day and finding that all things trusted to be true in the world have completely changed. This is exactly what happens to the family in Julie Otsuka’s novel When the Emperor Was Divine. In the novel, a Japanese American family’s journey during WWII and the major changes in their world are detailed. Life becomes full of unexpected turns and twists as they wait, grieve, and hope for normal again. Julie Otsuka uses symbolism through the color white, showing purity and hope. Life can bring situations that change viewpoints and how one interacts with the world. Experiencing injustice because of differences takes away one’s ability to view the world through innocent eyes and with hope for the future. Privilege
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While the son listens and is confused by the mother’s story because he does not remember the earring, the snow begins to fall. “The snow was clean and white blowing in gusts. By morning the snow had turned to slush and a bitter wind was down through the Wasatch Mountains.” (Otsuka 86) The snow seems to symbolize a sense of purity and hope as the mother tells the story of her missing earrings. At the end of her earring story, she comes to a sense of peace and realization that she never should have worn such earrings to begin with. The earring story gives a sense of acceptance of their situation and what is going on around them. The next morning, the peaceful, white snow has been replaced by slush and a bitter wind that suggests the sense of peace or hope is gone and has been replaced by reality and foreshadows the continued struggles and loss the family faces. There is a loss of purity and innocence in the characters as their situations move from moments of hope or peace to moments of foreshadowing and realization for the reader that there are tough moments ahead for this family. The world was stripping this family of their purity as the continued persecution unfolded throughout the …show more content…
In all cases, the symbolism of the loss of hope and innocence is clear and reminds the reader that reality can bring in a need for hopeful innocence and the loss of it can be forever life-altering. The beauty of the family in this novel is that they continue to seek moments of regaining their innocence and keeping up their hope. While it is important to remember that situations like what this Japanese American family endured were deeply life-changing, there are also life lessons in the continued seeking of hope in what seemed like the worst situations possible. People will always face new situations and situations that require them to change from what they know. It is important to keep hope alive and face these situations with the innocence of only what you know, but to recognize that these situations may be life-changing and regardless of the hope you bring, you may need to also face reality. Reality can be that life will change dramatically for some due to an injustice enforced upon them because of their race, sexuality, or life and this will change the way they see and interact with the world, while others will not always see the privilege they have or the awful events that are unfolding because they are not impacted by
While the son listens and is confused by the mother’s story because he does not remember the earring, the snow begins to fall. “The snow was clean and white blowing in gusts. By morning the snow had turned to slush and a bitter wind was down through the Wasatch Mountains.” (Otsuka 86) The snow seems to symbolize a sense of purity and hope as the mother tells the story of her missing earrings. At the end of her earring story, she comes to a sense of peace and realization that she never should have worn such earrings to begin with. The earring story gives a sense of acceptance of their situation and what is going on around them. The next morning, the peaceful, white snow has been replaced by slush and a bitter wind that suggests the sense of peace or hope is gone and has been replaced by reality and foreshadows the continued struggles and loss the family faces. There is a loss of purity and innocence in the characters as their situations move from moments of hope or peace to moments of foreshadowing and realization for the reader that there are tough moments ahead for this family. The world was stripping this family of their purity as the continued persecution unfolded throughout the …show more content…
In all cases, the symbolism of the loss of hope and innocence is clear and reminds the reader that reality can bring in a need for hopeful innocence and the loss of it can be forever life-altering. The beauty of the family in this novel is that they continue to seek moments of regaining their innocence and keeping up their hope. While it is important to remember that situations like what this Japanese American family endured were deeply life-changing, there are also life lessons in the continued seeking of hope in what seemed like the worst situations possible. People will always face new situations and situations that require them to change from what they know. It is important to keep hope alive and face these situations with the innocence of only what you know, but to recognize that these situations may be life-changing and regardless of the hope you bring, you may need to also face reality. Reality can be that life will change dramatically for some due to an injustice enforced upon them because of their race, sexuality, or life and this will change the way they see and interact with the world, while others will not always see the privilege they have or the awful events that are unfolding because they are not impacted by