Symbolism In When The Emperor Was Divine

I. C. Alpha

Mrs. Rogers

L202 P.1

01 March 2023

Symbolism as a Means of Deeper Understanding In her novel, When the Emperor was Divine, Julie Otsuka reflects on Japanese American internment during World War II and the culture of shame it generated within the proud, Japanese ethnic group. Moreover, she deftly illustrates many of her characters’ thoughts and feelings through the use of symbolic, physical objects rather than merely defining them with elaborate verbiage. Through the use of simple physical objects, Outsuka subtly shifts her audience’s focus to the important themes within the novel. Otsuka uses the woman’s white silk gloves as a symbol of the pride that is characteristic of Japanese culture. During the first chapter of When the

“I can pay you now,” said the woman”

(Otsuka 5).

As seen by the woman’s adamant refusal of charity from the store owner, her pride and confidence in her economic status are more than evident. Moreover, she has the means to cover her bill at the local store and finds that financial aid is rather pointless in her particular case. She refuses to let the store clerk patronize her by treating her like a victim when she is more than capable of paying and taking care of herself and her family.

Along with illustrating the woman’s pride with her refusal of help at the store, Otsuka also draws attention to the specific care that the woman gives to her pair of white silk gloves. These expensive articles physically represent the woman’s higher economic status and appreciation for exquisite objects. Otsuka calls awareness to the gloves by emphasizing just how conscientiously the woman cares for them. As put by the author, “She folded the paper in half but was careful not to let the ink darken her gloves” (Otsuka 4). This heightened attentiveness emphasizes the woman’s consciousness of the value of the gloves and demonstrates the extra precautions the woman takes to ensure that they remain in a respectable

Despite caring for her prized possession with such diligence throughout her time of owning them. Instead of locking the gloves away, the woman chooses to destroy them rather than have them damaged in an internment camp or tarnished by another person. This stark contrast in her behavior towards the silk gloves is a tragic reminder of the pride that the United States unjustly stole from its Japanese American citizens. Along with destroying the gloves, the woman also buries them deep in the earth rather than throwing them away, which symbolizes the internal burying of her pride for the next three years and five