Effects Of Farewell To Manzanar

Would you ever compromise your own beliefs to defend yourself from those of another? Out of fear, individuals or groups of people commit terrible atrocities and call them acts of self-preservation. This fear then gives rise to more fear creating a never-ending circle of hatred. About 75 years ago, the U.S did just that by putting Japanese-Americans in a hellish process, trapping them in camps, and treating them like animals. Quickly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Americans became frightened of possible traitorous Japanese spies on the mainland and decided to start this internment as a defensive measure. We see one family’s instance of this in Farewell to Manzanar where Jeanne Wakatsuki explains the horrors that this minority had to

An example of the effect that this war had was that it instilled fear in the soon-to-be internees. Directly after the bombing at Pearl Harbor, Papa rushed home and destroyed as much evidence of his Japanese heritage as he could. Jeanne reminisced, “That night Papa burned the flag he had brought with him from Hiroshima… anything that might suggest he still had some connection with Japan” (6). Performing these actions is a clear sign that the Japanese were in constant fear of this day coming where they would be seen as spies. Always scared of getting captured, they tried to hide and change their identity in any way they could much like what Korematsu did. Not only did Papa have his flag burned, but many other things that belonged to him got “lost”, stolen, or taken from him while he spent his time in Manzanar. Another effect this process had on Jeanne’s family was after Jeanne had gone back to school. As she attempted to run for queen of her school, her dreams began to crumble from the prejudice and racism of her teachers, administrators, and fellow students. Papa yelled at her, “They’re fudging on the tally. They’re afraid to have a Japanese girl be queen” (174). After the internment, many of these internees had to deal with loads of prejudice from society. Racism sprung up from all directions due to the lies and propaganda the American government spread onto the people. Not only did this cause tensions between the Japanese and outside groups, but here you can see that there were internal conflicts as well with Jeanne wanting to pursue this position and Papa being highly against