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Japanese Internment In No-No Boy By John Okada

662 Words3 Pages

When the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, led the US into World War II. This made the country fear and not trust anyone of Japanese descent, even if they were American born. This led the United States to forcibly remove and relocated hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans. Despite that many of them were American citizens, they were still removed from their homes solely based on their ethnicity and Japanese descent. Not only has this caused damage to innocent people, but it also showed America’s views and values on equality. This tragic event, known as the Japanese Internment, became a dark moment in American history. It left mistrust and suspicion towards minority groups in the United States. In the novel “No-No Boy” by John Okada, he tells the story of Ichiro Yamada who was born to first-generation Japanese immigrants. Yamada struggles to find his place in post-war America after he was released from prison. The story of Yamada depicts the effects of difficult times on reconciliation for individuals and communities affected by historical injustice. Both the Japanese Internment and the …show more content…

One important thing Okada highlights in the novel is the trauma of Japanese internment and the effect on the individual and families. At the beginning of the novel it read, “They took us out of our homes and schools and work and threw us in the middle of the desert, where we had nothing … We were stuck there … while the world outside moved on without us. And now they want us to prove ourselves loyal ….” This shows that because of the internment Yamada and many other Japanese Americans were feeling lost and abandoned. This created a traumatic experience for them and emphasized the impact of xenophobia and racism on innocent ones. Yamada refused to enlist in the U.S. Army because of the unfair and hypocritical actions of the

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