ipl-logo

Compare And Contrast Response To Executive Order 906 And Mericans

534 Words3 Pages

"Response to Executive Order 9066" by Dwight Okita and "Mericans" by Sandra Cisneros are two thought-provoking literary works that delve into the common theme of injustice and identity. Through the use of various literary devices and techniques, both authors effectively develop this theme, albeit in distinct ways. While Okita emphasizes the emotional impact of forced relocation and its consequences on Japanese Americans during World War II, Cisneros explores the theme of cultural assimilation and its effect on the protagonist's self-identity. This essay will compare and contrast the development of the theme in each work, highlighting the specific literary devices and techniques employed by the authors. In "Response to Executive Order 9066," Okita skillfully employs imagery and symbolism to convey the theme of injustice and its impact on individuals. The author describes the protagonist's "desks in neat rows" being left behind, symbolizing the disruption and loss caused by the forced relocation of Japanese Americans. The use of vivid imagery, such as "long dark train ride" and "barbed wire," evokes a sense of confinement, further emphasizing the unjust treatment endured by the …show more content…

The author employs a distinctive narrative style, using fragmented sentences and unconventional punctuation, to mirror the protagonist's struggle to establish her own identity within a dominant culture. The repetition of the phrase "I am an American" throughout the story reinforces the internal conflict experienced by the protagonist, torn between her Mexican heritage and the pressure to conform to societal expectations. Cisneros's use of stream-of-consciousness writing allows readers to intimately experience the character's emotions and underscores the theme of injustice as it relates to the suppression of one's cultural

Show More
Related
1028 Words | 5 Pages

This book reflects the author’s wish of not only remembering what has happened to the Japanese families living in the United States of America at the time of war but also to show its effects and how families made through that storm of problems and insecurities. The story takes in the first turn when the father of Jeanne gets arrested in the accusation of supplying fuel to Japanese parties and takes it last turn when after the passage of several years, Jeanne (writer) is living a contented life with her family and ponders over her past (Wakatsuki Houston and D. Houston 3-78). As we read along the pages

Read More
1284 Words | 6 Pages

Mary Matsuda Gruenewald tells her tale of what life was like for her family when they were sent to internment camps in her memoir “Looking like the Enemy.” The book starts when Gruenewald is sixteen years old and her family just got news that Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japan. After the bombing Gruenewald and her family life changed, they were forced to leave their home and go to internment camps meant for Japanese Americans. During the time Gruenewald was in imprisonment she dealt with the struggle for survival both physical and mental. This affected Gruenewald great that she would say to herself “Am I Japanese?

Read More
969 Words | 4 Pages

In the texts, "In Response to Executive Order 9066" by Dwight Okita and "Mericans" by Sandra Cisneros, a topic of American identity and perception of identity is shared. Both texts take a brief look at the lives, characteristics, and feelings of young girls living a bicultural life. In Cisnero's story, the girl seems caught between her two different cultures, and she struggles to connect with her Mexican heritage. In Okita's poem, the girl has a clear sense of her identity and place as an American. Culture is experienced and interpreted differently by each individual and each group of people.

Read More
694 Words | 3 Pages

David Okita, the author of the poem “In Response to Executive Order 9066,” is a published playwright, poet and novelist. He describes himself as Japanese, American, gay, and Buddhist. Okita’s father was a World War II veteran and his mother was held in confinement for four years at a Japanese-American concentration camp. The World War II plays as a significant theme in the poem “In Response to Executive Order 9066”. At first glance, the poem appears to be about an American girl who has an unstable relationship with her friend Denise.

Read More
814 Words | 4 Pages

Japanese Americans constantly had an urge to go home, but they had to stay in the miserable camp with terrible conditions and qualities. They wanted to go home so badly and live a normal life with their families, but they could not. Moreover, struggles between these groups also show differences. “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” This opening line of Lincoln’s address tells us that Americans should treat others the same. However, during the Battle of Gettysburg and the Civil War, Americans fought themselves “breaking the rules”.

Read More
889 Words | 4 Pages

“I had nearly outgrown the shame and the guilt and the sense of unworthiness. This visit, this pilgrimage, made comprehensible, finally, the traces that remained and would always remain, like a needle.” The text Farewell To Manzanar, written by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, embellishes Jeanne’s experience while being placed in an internment camp. Jeanne’s family faced with various obstacles through the process of being evacuated from their home to living in an internment camp. Throughout the text, Jeanne also explains how her life was full of hardships compared to how she perceived the lives of Caucasians.. Though the American Government was afraid that Japanese-Americans were potential saboteurs, there’s no justified for interning them because it was not equitable to blame a whole society on a small portion action’s, the families were not equipped with the proper care and attention, and the Japanese-American children were faced with racism that they could not withstand.

Read More
426 Words | 2 Pages

The common theme in both of the short stories is centered around the cultural differences both girls faced due to the heirtage. Although both authours decsribed and expressed this in different ways they also share many similarities. Theirs stories help to show the many different people and cultures that America has to offer and express. The "Response to Exeuctive Order 9066" express how she feels about her American identity, whereas "Mericans" ties more into her hispanic family.

Read More
583 Words | 3 Pages

In a "Response to Executive Order 9066," Okita uses American identity throughout his poem. The narrator is a young girl who sees herself as more of an american. However when the internment was issued it wasn't just the Japanese Americans who were accused of espionage and sabotage, it was all Japanese Americans because they feared more betrayal. The narrator grew up in america and says, "I have always felt funny using chopsticks and my favorite food is hot dogs. " Hot dogs are seen as a cultural american

Read More
957 Words | 4 Pages

Written works about American Identity are a very common theme amongst writers, including poet Dwight Okita and short-story writer Sandra Cisneros. Dwight Okita is famous for her poem “In Response to Order 9066: All Americans of Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers,” in which the theme of American identity is portrayed through a 14-year-old girl. In a similar way, Sandra Cisneros’s short story is told by a young girl of Mexican heritage who prefers American culture—in sharp contrast to her deep-rooted Mexican grandmother. Although the overall theme of the two texts is “American Identity,” both Okita's poem and Cisneros's short story delve deeper and portray that cultural heritage and physical appearances do not determine what it

Read More
1157 Words | 5 Pages

narrator thinks of herself as American, not so much Japanese was her friend and the United States government does. Her identity is based on what she likes of her experiences, not so much for heritage. Cisneros 's narrator sees herself as very clearly different from her Mexican grandmother. But others charge for others Mexican

Read More
1010 Words | 5 Pages

Matsuda’s memoir is based off of her and her family’s experiences in the Japanese-American internment camps. Matsuda reveals what it is like during World War II as a Japanese American, undergoing family life, emotional stress, long term effects of interment, and her patriotism and the sacrifices she had to make being in the internment camps. Everyone living in Western section of the United States; California, Oregon, of Japanese descent were moved to internment camps after the Pearl Harbor bombing including seventeen year old Mary Matsuda Gruenewald and her family. Matsuda and her family had barely any time to pack their bags to stay at the camps. Matsuda and her family faced certain challenges living in the internment camp.

Read More
449 Words | 2 Pages

Dwight Okita has a central theme of discrimination against Japanese - Americans. It is written in the first person POV of a young girl who experiences cultural differences between where she came from and where she grew up. Some literary devices she uses are simile, imagery, and personification.   Dwight Okita uses the analogy of friendship and freedom to illustrate how fragile both can be through the eyes of the little girl, the protagonist

Read More
906 Words | 4 Pages

The young girl is prevented from entering the church where her grandmother has prayers. As a person from the old world, the young girl is not allowed to play with boys from the new world. On the other hand, “in response to executive order” by Dwight Okita is about Americans of Japanese origins that were supposed to report to relocation

Read More
925 Words | 4 Pages

Citizen 13660 is a comic-like, autobiographical documentary which includes in-text and descriptive drawings depicting the lives and experiences of Japanese-Americans that were forced to relocate to camps during World War II. This was seen from the eyes of evacuee and author, Miné Okubo. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan, and many Japanese-American citizens and “aliens” of the Japanese ancestry became targets of racial hatred and distrust. Because of this, the army’s Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA) organized a protective custody, an evacuation amongst the Japanese population, particularly from the West Coast. These immigrant aliens and citizens were taken to temporary assembly centers at horsing

Read More
1499 Words | 6 Pages

Subsections (3) and (4) focus on discrimination really show how the Japanese were targeted because of their race. Not only did the government control where the Japanese were going to reside, but also the discrimination that they had to

Read More

More about Compare And Contrast Response To Executive Order 906 And Mericans

Related Topics

Open Document