The Theme Of Guilt In When The Emperor Was Divine

Deanna M. Wilkins

Mrs. Vermillion

Honors English 10

20 March 2023

Shame and guilt may seem like negative emotions with no bright side, but just like anger and happiness, they are needed for self-compassion and admitting when you were wrong.

Julie Otsuka uses the motif of shame and guilt in her story: “When the Emperor was Divine,” to show how characters feel about the events that take place throughout the book. Being shown how situations not directly related to a character's actions can still affect how someone may act differently even after the situation has ended. People, especially children, feel the need to understand why they are being punished for something they did not do. A child might feel guilty if they got in trouble for their

The first time we are shown a character in the story feeling guilty about the current events going on is in the beginning. The audience is introduced to a cashier from the local drugstore the mother visits frequently; the cashier is aware of the mother's situation and tries to help her a little: “You can pay me later” “Don’t worry about it”(Otsuka 5-6). The store cashier refuses to let the mother pay for her items, insisting she can pay him back “later”, knowing they most likely will not see each other again. The mother leaves after calling out his name for the first time ever, feeling slightly ashamed she never said it before. Even after coming back from the camps the shame still follows the family around. “If we did something wrong we made sure to say excuse me [..] If we did something terribly wrong we immediately said we were sorry” (Otsuka 122-123). The children expected to be greeted warmly by their previous classmates when they returned, but they were ignored and made fun of by their old friends. The people around them made the children ashamed to just walk outside, being judged by hateful stares. Being thrown back into society and having to take the blame and suffer for the actions of others can affect a child's psyche

The boy brings up multiple times the embarrassing memory of when his father was detained by the FBI. Many fathers were taken into government custody but only his father was taken away in the night. “Elizabeth Morgana Roosevelt had seen his father taken away in his slippers” (Otsuka 74). The boy was ashamed that unlike other people’s fathers in the neighborhood being taken away during the day in nice clothes, his father was taken away during the night in his sleepwear. Children are always looking for answers and reasoning to why a situation has turned out a certain way. The boy has many moments of guilt that lead to him wondering if his actions were a catalyst for his family's suffering. “Secretly, the boy blamed himself. I shouldn’t have plucked that leaf” (Otsuka 100). The boy is constantly blaming himself for things he did, claiming if he did not act their situation would be different. Young children cannot always grasp the intensity of intense situations, especially ones as serious as being put into an internment camp. The boy is guilty of his actions, believing that they are the causes of his family's suffering, wondering if anything would change if his actions