Farewell to Manzanar The book Farewell to Manzanar is a story of a Japanese girl named Jeanne Wakatsuki who was a part of an Internment Camp called Camp Manzanar. The internment camps were in-stituted by the U.S. due to WWII. The Wakatsuki family has many troubles and changes as a whole, and most of their change comes from their stay at Manzanar. The book begins with the family peacefully living in Santa Monica. After the Wakatsuki’s catching wind of the attack on Pearl Harbor, their lives took an immediate turn towards a downhill decent. However, the char-acter Papa (George Wakatsuki) is the one who is changed the most by the imprisonment. In the story, Papa is introduced as a prideful fisherman. He is passionate in what he does, and who he is as a person. Papa was the provider and “man” of the family. As the leader of the family, it is his duty to make sure his family has been but in good care. The book says “He had been a jack-of-all-trades” (Houston 10). He knew just enough about everything to get by, due to the fact that he had a variety of skills obtained by the many jobs he has had.
Papa, in the
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By this point in the book, it is clear that Papa has changed mentally and physically. As he arrives and gets off the bus, his family is eager for his arrival and waits for him. They are soon to find out that Papa is not the same man he used to be. As Papa exits the bus they see that he now walks with a cane and looks much older than he did a year ago. As the fami-ly is now able to spend time with Papa, and able to catch up on lost time, the family soon finds out that he is a bitter man. Papa has now become an alcoholic. The book even describes how he became so bitter that he tries to strike his wife. The family begins to lose respect, thus making Papa even more bitter than before. The emotional toll of being in prison has finally set in on