Essay about Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

There are many things that happened to Japanese-American immigrants during World War 2 that people in this time period aren’t really familiar with. A story from a Japanese woman, Jeanne Wakatsuki-Houston, who was born and lived in this era, with help from her husband, James D. Houston, explains and sheds some light during the times where internment camps still prevailed. The writing piece titled “Arrival at Manzanar", takes place during her childhood and the Second World War. In the beginning, Jeanne and her family were living a calm and peaceful life in a predominantly white neighborhood, until disaster struck the world and they were forced to move due to escalating tensions between Japanese Orientals and white Americans. At the time, Japanese-Americans, like Jeanne, were forced to live in an internment camp, which is a prison of sorts, due to the war with Japan. The text is being told through a first person point-of-view in which Jeanne herself tells the story through her experiences during the war. In that story, which contains only a part of the original text, much of the setting took place either prior to and during the time she was sent to the internment camps and describes her struggle with it. This story clearly states the importance of family and perseverance which is shown through her use of pathos, definition, and chronological storytelling.

Fighting a war against the oppression and persecution of a people, how hypocritical of the American government to harass and punish those based on their heritage. Magnifying the already existing dilemma of discrimination, the bombing of Pearl Harbor introduced Japanese-Americans to the harsh and unjust treatment they were forced to confront for a lifetime to come. Wakatsuki Ko, after thirty-five years of residence in the United States, was still prevented by law from becoming an American citizen.

of growing up, and the affects war has on her life and love. As it is

The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese led to the entry of the United States in the World War II. While the war was going on, the United States decided to put Japanese into camps an effort to get rid of Japanese spies and make sure that nobody had contact with Japan. In Farewell to Manzanar, an autobiography written by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, the author shares her experience at camp Manzanar in Ohio Valley, California during the 1940s. The book was published in 1973, about 31 years after Wakatsuki left camp Manzanar.

We are three students from Berea-Midpark High School and we just finished reading your book for our literature circles. We are writing this letter with intent to share our thoughts and appreciation for the book.

In the novel Farewell to Manzanar, the author Jeanne Watatsuki Houston and James D Houston, they try to convey the theme prejudice. Throughout the novel the Japanese have to face the struggle of being the outgroup. “What had they charged him with? We didn't know that either, until an article appeared the next day in Santa Monica paper, saying he had been arrested for delivering oil to Japanese submarines offshore”(Houston 8). This shows prejudice against the Japanese because Papa has had this job for a while, and they didn't have any problems with it before. They just now start showing prejudice against a the Japanese because of the Pearl Harbor attacks, and are treating the Japanese unfairly. The author also conveys the theme prejudice against

Oppression, defined as, “unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power” (merriam-webster.com) and prejudice, defined as, “injury or damage resulting from some judgment or action of another in disregard of one's rights” (merriam-webster.com), both actions that have changed people. Some people are changed for the worse and some are changed for the better, but some choose to share their story. Two people named Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and Elie Wiesel did this, they shared their story with the whole world. They both did this by writing autobiographical memoirs, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston wrote Farewell to Manzanar alongside her husband and Elie Wiesel wrote Night, both sharing their experiences during well known events that have happened in the world today. Even though the stories have taken place at different places and different times, the people involved in these event experienced the same things. This does not mean that they were affected in the same way, they were affected differently in their own ways.

How do you think you would have handled being a Japanese living in America during World War Two? I would guess not too well, being taken from your home, put into camps, and you were treated like you were less than the rest of the Americans. Even though a lot of the Japanese living in America during this time had done nothing to support Japan, this still happened to them. It happened to Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, and she tells about it in her book, Farewell to Manzanar. It wasn’t fair, America had other enemies during that time but only the Japanese were sent to camps for that time. The Japanese-American Internment was fueled by more than war time panic. What role did prejudice play in the Japanese-American Relocation? Are there modern day

Papa refused to give his permission and completely disliked the idea. He wanted Jeanne to marry a Japanese boy and said she would not be able to do that if she were Catholic, as there weren’t any Japanese that were catholic. Due to that, Jeanne did not get baptized or confirmed.

Farewell to Manzanar is sociologist and writer Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's first hand account of her interment in the Japanese camps during World War II. Growing up in southern California, she was the youngest of ten children living in a middle-to lower class, but comfortable life style with her large family. In the beginning of her story, she told about how her family was close, but how they drifted apart during and after their internment in the camp. The ironic part of it is that her family spent their entire time together in the same camp. So why did her family drift apart so? What was once the center of the family scene; dinner became concealed with the harsh realities of the camp. This reflects the loss

¨In the morning he would wake up groaning like the demon in a Kabuki drama; he would vomit and then start sipping again. He terrified us all, lurching around the tiny room, cursing in Japanese and swinging his bottles wildly,¨ (Houston 50-51). This is a quote from the book Farewell to Manzanar. In this point of the book Jeanne’s father was an alcoholic. He would drink himself to sleep every night and just wake up and do it again. As a child it is hard to go through this because you can never really understand why a father would do this. Especially when he has a loving family that is there for him during it all. It’s hard to comprehend why someone would put themselves through that physical state knowing that it was hurting the ones they love.

“The name Manzanar meant nothing to us when we left Boyle Heights. We didn’t know where it was or what is was. We went because the government ordered us to” (12-13). In the book, Farewell to Manzanar, this is the situation that Jeanne Wakatsuki and her family are thrown into during World War II. Her family is Japanese, meaning that her family and all other people of Japanese descent living in the United States were seen as enemies during that time. This was all because of the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. In 1942, the Japanese were forced to move away from their homes and into internment camps like Manzanar, but the internment of the Japanese-Americans was not only from war time panic. First, prejudice played a huge role in the Japanese-American Relocation because only the Japanese were relocated when the Germans and Italians were also their enemies. Second, a modern day connection with that time in American history is all the tensions today in the Middle East. Lastly, something like the Japanese-American relocation could happen today because of Donald Trump wanting to deport Mexicans that immigrated illegally.

In the beginning of the book, that she explained her experience and life, which she was struggling because she showed her emotions

Part III: theme analyses of Farewell to Manzanar 1)Title-Farewell to Manzanar, published in 1973, was written by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston. It is a classic memoir of the life and struggles of a young Japanese internee and her family at Manzanar during World War Two. The title, "Farewell to Manzanar," automatically sets a theme of grief, sadness, and loss. The significance of the title throughout the book, is that Jeanne is forced to say "farewell" to her father, friends, and previous lifestyle atone point in time. During the time she lived at Manzanar, she had become a different person with a different perspective on life. Once she had left Manzanar, she had realized that her life there was the only life she knew how to

The general thought of yourself or another person that will be affected when you do anything is hard. If we killed Hitler we could've saved a lot of people. Some events affected the people that wrote “Night”, “Farewell to Manzanar”, and “Children of the River”. Elie Wiesel was only fiveteen years old when he was sent to Auschwitz, which was network of concentration camps that were controled by German Nazi’s. Jeanne wakatsuki Houston was in manzanar, an internment camp in california’s Owens valley where japanese americans were imprisoned during world war 2. Sandara represents a lot of people that got evacuated from Cambodia and moved to Oregon, California because their was bombing’s in her home town.