Summary Of When The Emperor By Julie Otsuka

Dehumanization: Identity Stripping of Japanese Americans Dehumanization itself is the process of depriving a person or group of people of positive human rights. Identity stripping is similar in terms of reducing or removing one’s individuality by mocking, erasing, or minimizing one’s cultural and personal identity. Japanese internment is described as the U.S. government forcing the relocation of Japanese Americans to imprisonment camps during World War II, beginning in 1942. Julie Otsuka’s When the Emperor was Divine Japanese internment camps dehumanized Japanese Americans through social isolation, use of derogatory and demeaning stereotypes regarding the Japanese, and physical and psychological abuse. To avoid any further contact with the

Since the Japanese were heavily disliked, the term ‘enemy’ was a common label used both against their appearance and for what was happening during the war. The hate for Japanese people got too out of hand, leaving the Japanese people to believe that they were really the enemy and that these physical features are the reason for all this torture. The father of the boy and girl throughout the story is taken in by the FBI for interrogation regarding any knowledge about the war. Instead, the father uses this chance to call out and agree with all the stereotypes against the Japanese. “‘I’m the one you call Jap. I’m the one you call Nip. I’m the one you call Slits. I’m the one you call Slope. I’m the one you call Yellowbelly. I’m the one you call ‘Gook’” (142). Jap is short for Japanese. Nip is an abbreviation for Nippon meaning Japan in Japanese, also an offensive ethnic slur against Japanese people. Slits are a woman’s private part. Slopes is a term used to refer to a person from East Asia. Yellowbelly is a person without courage or confidence, a coward. Gook refers to a non-American person, more commonly someone from Asia–all of which are derogatory nicknames given to the

We didn’t even have names.We had to make deep bows, even to the coolies and the rickshaw runners’” (119). The Japanese were one of many minority groups that were deprived of their names and were labeled as numbers. Numbers were used to equate them to prisoners and keep track of all the Japanese individuals within internment camps. Coolies are those of Indian or Chinese descent. Rickshaws are human-powered vehicles that were originally invented in Japan. Rickshaw runners are peasants who are typically those of Chinese ancestry. By forcing the Japanese to bow to these two ethnic groups in particular, means that they are seen as less than the least. These punishments stripped the Japanese of their identities and worth by placing them at the very bottom of the social class pyramid. The intention was to show the Japanese that they were slaves to the slaves and had no worth whatsoever. Not only did these negative and cruel thoughts result in psychological abuse, but so did the rules on religion. “There were rules about religion: No Emperor-worshipping Shintos allowed” (61). “And remember, never say the Emperor’s name out loud”