The theme of the poem ‘What Do I Remember of the Evacuation’ by Joy Kogawa is that the effect of racism is strong enough to force an innocent child to lose one’s purity. This poem is spoken in the perspective of a young Japanese girl who was once confined in an internment camp during the World War II. The first thing she remembers of the ‘evacuation’ is the ‘excitement of going on a trip’. Even by the time the poem starts, her childlike spirit remains. She is just an ordinary kid who knew nothing about the bleak reality. The second thing she can recall is the moment when she starts to become more conscious. By discovering others’ circumstances of ‘abandoning everything’, she begins to notice that something’s wrong. The last thing she remembers