Jane's First Impression Of Manzanar

1. When Jeanne and her family first arrived at Manzanar, every aspect of the camp seems to be uncomfortable and not reaching any good standard. The first thing they do when they arrive to camp is have dinner and the food they served was so different and unsatisfactory that, “Few of us could eat such a mixture. (page 20) Their first impression of the camp was already poor. Then she described their living conditions, which was basically a poorly constructed shack by the sounds of it. The walls were built with gaps for the cold and sand to get through and the small “sixteen by twenty feet” (page 21) room had to be divided for eight of them. After their first night, they woe up “shivering and coated with dust that had blown up through the knotholes …show more content…
After leaving Manzanar and returning to school for the first time since the war Jeanne comments, “From that day forward, I lived with this double impulse: the urge to disappear and the desperate desire to be acceptable.” (page 159) She relates this feeling after her first experiences in public school after returning from Manzanar. She says her teacher was warm and the “other kids inspected me, but not unlike I myself would study a new arrival.” (page 157) Then later in the day she was asked to read aloud. She read perfectly as she had been raised speaking English, but after she finished, “a pretty blond girl in front of me said, quite innocently, ‘Gee, I didn’t know you could speak English.”(page 157) This is what makes Jeanne feel foreign and different “or perhaps not be seen at all” (page 158) This is what makes her want to be invisible, but at the same time makes her feel like she has to prove that she belongs in America. She also mentions at this time she let herself feel this way like many other minorities. There had been “some submerged belief that this treatment is deserved, or at least allowable” (page …show more content…
As she gets older, Jeanne struggles with adapting to American culture and her own identity. One could this is a main theme of the novel, trying to balance her Japanese identity with American culture. At first, Jeanne seems to think that she must become fully “American” to fit in. She is focus on the America culture and values and believes that is how she should be living, but it is not that simple. The way society was back then wouldn’t let her forgot her race. This makes it hard for her to adapt to the American ideals she longs to be a part of. Nevertheless, when she moves to Santa Clara for her senior year, she is welcomed and elected carnival queen. This is met by opposite reactions from her parents. Her father is clearly against this saying that she is showing off too much of her body, she’s not following Japanese ways, and gave her the ultimatum, “you can be queen if you start odori lesson at the Buddhist church,” (page 178). Jeanne’s mother sees acceptance as “simply another means for survival,” (page 179). I think at the time, this statement was very much true. Japanese were not looked at as equals. With the end of the war still fresh, people still had wrong ideas about Japanese culture. In present times, I think it would be easier stick to your heritage in the US, but back then, Japanese need to make sure they would be accepted so they could get jobs and make a life for themselves. Jeanne’s father was resistant to these ideas. He was a very proud and