Betrayed By America Summary

Over the past few weeks of class, we have covered the first five chapters of our textbook, written by George Brown Tindell and David Emory Shi called, “America, A Narrative History.” Each chapter told the reader a narration of the history of America, as opposed to an expository version of America’s history. Each chapter had its own main idea over a portion of history, along with many details that cover the importance of the main idea. As a reader, one may obtain a deeper appreciation for the country 's history, prior to entering the class on the first day. The most important aspect of history, besides the battles that are fought, is the different cultures that make up today’s modern America.

The book “The Other America”, written by Michael Harrington, describes poverty in America in the 1950s and 1960s, when America became one of the most affluent and advanced nations in the world. The book was written in 1962, and Harrington states that there were about 50,000,000 (about 25% of the total population) poor in America at that time. The author did extensive research with respect to the family income levels to derive the poverty numbers, and used his own observations and experiences to write this book. This book addresses the reasons for poverty, the nature of poverty, the culture of poverty, the blindness of Middle Class America with respect to poverty, and the responsibility of all Americans in addressing the issue of poverty in America.

In the poem “America,” by Tony Hoagland, the idea of Americans being consumed with their money is shown using symbolism and metaphors. The speaker in this poem is a teacher whose name is never mentioned. One thing revealed in the poem is that the speaker has a father who is presumably very wealthy and successful. One of the teacher’s students compares America to a maximum security prison. A recurring theme throughout “America” is Hoagland showing examples of America’s greedy society using a teacher, student, and a father’s experiences. Using metaphors of money and symbols of rivers filled with merchandise, Tony Hoagland captures how the teacher begins to think after he hears his student compare America to a maximum security prison.

Our America by LeAlan Jones and LLoyd Newman makes readers feel bad about children deaths in Chicago which inspires people to help even though it makes readers feel bad.

While many Americans of the time would argue that any Japanese-looking person could have been dangerous and anti-America, in reality, the U.S. simply hated Japan and their culture which was shown through societal racism. Firstly, a document published in 1942, states, “All Japanese look very much alike to a white person-it is hard for us to distinguish between them… Many Japanese-Americans have been educated in Japan. Many, believers in Shintoism, worship the Emperor and regard his orders as superior to any loyalty they may owe the United States.” (Document H). Clearly, many white Americans felt that internment could be justified by the fact that it was hard to tell which Japanese-looking people were pro Japan and which were pro United States, therefore meaning that they should all be held captive. These Americans misunderstand the situation by getting the false impression that

It is clear without the majority of other evidence that Dower gives exactly how stereotyping and racism were a factor for both Americans and British towards the Japanese as well as the Japanese towards the American and British when you look at the political cartoons in Dowers book. The first political cartoon on page 181, with a gun aimed toward Japan, makes the hatred clear with the headline, "Throw In An Extra Charge", and on the bag the sailor is carrying it says, "war without mercy on a treacherous foe." This cartoon was published three days after Pearl Harbor and it is easy to see the political climate and hatred of the Japanese in this propaganda.

The imprisonment of Japanese Americans occurred because of their Japanese ancestry. The fear of the Japanese, also known as Anti-Japanese Paranoia, was a direct result of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Many Americans feared that Japanese descendants would remain loyal to and side with their home country (Japanese American Internment, 2008). The brink of war being just around the corner clouded American minds and led to quick decisions. America was paralyzed by fear in the midst of another World War, just years after the first. Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt wrote, “The Japanese race is an enemy race, and while many second and third generation Japanese born on United States soil, possessed of United States citizenship, have become ‘Americanized,’ the racial strains are undiluted.” Like DeWitt, many Americans felt that all Japanese Americans were a threat, especially the Issei and Nisei. “Literally speaking, the Japanese terms Issei,

“Herd ‘em up, pack ‘em off, and give ‘em the inside room in the badlands”(Hearst newspaper column). Many Americans were feeling this way toward people of Japanese descent after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The feelings Americans were enduring were motivated largely by wartime hysteria, racial prejudice, and a failure of political leadership. The Japanese-Americans were being denied their constitutional rights, they were provided poor living conditions in these relocation camps, and by the time apologies and reparations were paid to the Japanese, it was too late.

Betrayal hits the most not when by a friend, but by a loved one. In the novel, Flight, by Sherman Alexie, a half Native-American half Irish teen calling himself Zits, struggles with moving from abusive foster home to the next while in the constant search for a real family, real parents. In the act of crime, Zits is shot which transports him into a cycle of different bodies portraying different themes that majorly affects zits life and understanding of the world. The scene in which Zits meets a boy named Justice develops the theme of betrayal by portraying Justice, who seems like a very wise, trustworthy friend, but ends up betraying Zits which changes his view of the world forever.

In the documentary, American Experience: A Family Gathering, directed by Lise Yasui and Ann Tegnell, explores three generations of the Yasui family immigration to Oregon in the early 1900s, and through their imprisonment in internment camps during World War Two as Japanese-Americans. I found this documentary heart-warming, eye-opening and emotional to what the Japanese immigrants had to deal with when immigrating to the United States and different insights to what went through their minds before, during and after World War Two. From watching the documentary, I can’t even fathom how a civil and nothing but perfect Japanese family like the Yasui family, could immigrate to the United States, establish themselves with work, a home and the start a family, could be seen as enemies of the country and lose everything for just looking or sounding Japanese. I mean, when I was growing up and I read books about Pearl Harbor or looked at pictures, videos and the film about Pearl Harbor, I right away got mad and emotional about those attacks and got a sense of anger from those attacks and found myself thinking that the Japanese deserved what they got and brought it upon themselves, which is harsh. Now, I was just a young child and to get those feelings years later, should show to a degree on how easy it was for Americans to be upset, angered and thought of the Japanese-Americans as evil people at the time. The Pearl Harbor attacks were one of the hardest attacks on U.S. soil from a

In author Cristina Henriquez’s novel The Book of Unknown Americans, the characterization of Alma Rivera is used to convey how grief and misery is magnified when all that a person had ever known has been taken away for some reason out of their control; it is only when they learn to give up control and forgive themselves, that they overcome the feelings of grief and guilt.

The government did not reveal any facts to support their accusation that Japanese- Americans would turn traitor. Some in the American public would not require any evidence either. Two days after the Attack on Pearl Harbor a director of a business school explained to an interviewer in Madison, Wisconsin his belief on why Japan attacked; “Japan has attacked us so that we cannot hinder her conquests...For I well remember when the California Japanese were joyously looking forward to the day Japan would conquer California....”[1] He fails to ever state why he has this belief or if he ever lived in California to witness this treachery first hand.

America’s initial response to the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 was that of disbelief and shock. This attack took place on a Sunday morning and what surprised many was the fact that a tiny island nation situated in the Asian mainland could bring out that kind of a feat thousands of miles away from its actual homeland. A major part of this shock and disbelief was based mainly on the stereotypical view that the Americans had on the Japanese people – short people with oriental features that appeared exaggerated.

In the novel, The Book of Unknown Americans, Chirstina Heriauvez uses the characterization of Alma to depict an immigrant's´ journey in America to unravel the truth about the dark side of assimilating. The novels demonstrates that immigrants´ are filled with hope at the prospect of starting someplace new which often blinds them to believing that their new place will be better than their current situation. It can easily be impacted by racism, intolerance and the mistreatment of others.

To the Americans, the Japanese, unlike the Germans, were all a race to be hated. Because the Germans