An Analysis Of Julie Otsuka's When The Emperor Was Divine

Like many children her age, the girl in Julie Otsuka’s novel When the Emperor was Divine had the opportunity to attend a “summer camp.” However, the camps that the girl and her family endured were not like traditional summer getaways but instead state-sponsored prisons designed to keep the populace “safe.” Instead of enjoying the water slides and rope swings that other children her age got to experience, the girl struggled with establishing an identity that fit with the rest of her society. With her use of neutral tone and language, Julie Otsuka explores the creation of the cultural identity that is established by the Japanese-American people as they are confined in Concentration camps designed to keep the nation safe. Pulled from their homes,

“The boy thought he saw his father everywhere. Outside the latrines. Underneath the showers. Leaving against barrack doorways. Playing go with the other men in their floppy straw hats on the narrow wooden benches after lunch. […] wherever the boy looked he saw him: Daddy, Papa, Father, Oto-san” (Otsuka 50). The child is clearly distraught and missing his father, that he had not seen since he was taken on suspicion of being a foreign spy. The boy goes on to “[call] out, ‘Papa,” and three men with thick metal-rimmed glasses looked up from their plates and said ‘Nan Desu Ka?’ What is it? But the boy could not say what it was” (Otsuka 50). While the child was feeling down; instead of picking her son up, the mother scolds her child “[reminding] him, once again, not to shout out in public. And never to speak with his mouth full” and his sister reminds him that, “Papa’s gone” (Otsuka 50). For one of the few emotional outbursts in the novel, there is no consolation for the distressed child. There is only condemnation of his actions and a reminder of not only of how he should act but also of the very topic that is distressing him, his missing father. It is clear that it did not matter what age an individual was, it was expected that the child would remain silent and distant from

(Keep your head down and don’t cause any trouble, we’d been told, weeks before, in a mess hall lecture on “How to Behave in the Outside World.” Speak only English. Do not walk down the street in groups of more than three, or father in restaurants in groups of more than five. Do not draw attention to yourselves in any way.)” (Otsuka 121-122).
Because the Japanese-American people were more concerned with being accepted and blending into the American culture, the Japanese Americans gave up their former lives in order to make those around them more comfortable. Even though the lives of the Japanese Americans had been essentially torn apart, they suffered the shame of not being able to integrate with the other Americans. Although the Japanese Americans were the ones being penalized for looking a certain way, it was the collective group of Japanese Americans that felt the shame of not being able to properly integrate. The trauma that they endured enabled them to desensitize themselves to the attacks of their fellow Americans and thrive in a community that did not trust them. The Japanese-American people managed the trials and tribulations of America through collective willpower that enabled them to flourish in a hostile