When comparing Dwight Okita’s “In response to Executive Order: 9066” and William Yellowrobe’s “The Star Quilter”, it is easy to see the differences between the texts, but what is shocking is all of the similarities. Both Yellowrobe and Okita pick very controversial times in America as their scene and discuss the troubling events going on in that time. Although there are clear differences in their works, they share many feelings and messages. William Yellowrobe’s “The Star Quilter” features the interaction between two women, one Native American and the other Caucasian, in their 30s. The most crucial aspect of the two women’s conversations are the microaggressions that Luanne, the Caucasian women, is constantly berating Mona, the Native American …show more content…
Starting with Okita’s poem, the little girl who writes the letter explains that she calls tomatoes “love apples”. She wanted to pack some tomato seeds away for the trip to the internment camp, but “[her] father says where [they’re] going they won’t grow” (Okita 520). Her father does not mean that the soil is not rich enough to farm, but that in a place built from hatred a “love apple” could not possibly grow. When the protagonist returns to school her friend Denice is rotten to her because of the new views she has really been taught. Knowing this, the protagonist gives her a pack of tomato seeds and tells her friend “when the first tomato ripens [you’ll] miss me” (Okita 520). The growing of the tomato plant is symbolic of Denice growing not only in size, but in acceptance and understanding. Once Denice has grown enough to love she will realize how she had hurt her friend and will want to apologize, but it will be too late; she will miss the letter writer. William Yellowrobe’s play is absolutely packed with symbols. Right from the beginning the reader is given the symbol of Mona’s house. In the first scene Luanne barges into Mona’s house and closes the door behind her. This could be viewed as a simple error, but when examined a little harder it can be argued that Mona’s home is a symbolic representation of America before the Europeans. At the same time, Luanne’s barging in and shutting the door