Michelle Ezuruike
History 1301
Professor Celeste
24 October 2017
Manzanar Critique
Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston is a story about a hopeful Japanese American family and their journey through a shameful time of being forced out of their home and sent to live in Manzanar. Manzanar is a concentration camp where hundreds of thousands Japanese Americans were put during World War II. The story is in the point of view of a seven year old girl named Jeanne Wakatsuki (the author), in the book we watch her grow as she goes through very rough situations. It is significant that the author, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston wrote this book about the concentration camps because she was a part of it. Jeanne spent three and half years in Manzanar during the war which
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She wanted to share her story of the camps from the inside, and what she went through. Jeanne states, “To tell what I know and felt about it would mean telling something about our family before the war…Writing it has been a way of coming to term with the impact these years have had on my entire life”(x). Not only did she write this book to let readers know what the Japanese really went through in this time period but for her sanity and healing as well. The book had two very significant parts. In chapter six Papa returns to his family but in chapters seven through ten the author’s impression of Papa’s character changed. This is significant because since Papa was taken into the custody the family was in grief and waited for better days when he returned; but when he returned things became worse. “He terrified all of us, lurching around the tiny room, cursing in Japanese and swinging his bottles wildly. Mama got nothing but threats and abuse