We Re Japs Quotes

Discrimination in the novel ranged from blatant hatred from neighbors to laws restricting the lives of Japanese Americans. Although many of the novel’s characters passively discriminate against their Japanese neighbors, often behind their backs, Etta Heine, mother of the deceased Carl Heine, blatantly states her hatred towards the ethnic group. In the novel, Etta uses the war as justification for her bigotry, stating, “They’re Japs. We’re in a war with them. We can’t have spies around” (Guterson 126). Etta disguises her prejudice through a plea of safety; she claims to care about the lives of Americans while completely disregarding her Japanese American neighbors who have lived beside her, and shown great respect to her, for decades.

Forcefully relocated across the western United States, Japanese Americans felt vulnerable and humiliated. While describing the relocation of the Japanese members of Amity Harbor, the novel reads, “They were taken from Anacortes on a train to a transit camp––the horse stables at the Puyallup fairgrounds. They lived in the horse stalls and slept on the canvas army cots” (Guterson 217). Illustrating the dehumanization of the Japanese Americans, Guterson places his characters in horse stalls, comparing the treatment they received to that of a horse, portraying the horrific marginalization of the Japanese. The marginalization and dehumanization of the Japanese Americans worsened as they arrived to the internment camps. Describing the conditions of the camps, Ashlyn Nelson states, “Conditions...were deplorable. They were severely lacking in basic amenities such as health and sanitation services...guards subjected internees to tear gas and other forms of abuse” (Nelson). The so called “melting pot” that accepted everyone rejected its own citizens, demoralizing and degrading the Japanese Americans, consequently establishing a feeling of non acceptance in the Japanese

Hatue's secret relationship with Ishmael Chambers, a white citizen of Amity Harbor, ends abruptly when her family is relocated to the internment camp. Additionally, the government separates her father from the family, imprisoning him on false accusations. Burdened by the severed relationships, the Japanese abandoned their fledgling American identity. Upon receiving the notification of their internment, the Japanese Americans of Amity Harbor began selling their personal belongings. Talking to her husband, Etta Heine says, “They’ll be selling everything off...sell them to whoever’ll take them off their hand.” Carl responds, “People are going to take advantage, too...It’s too bad” (Guterson 125). Both the neighbors and the government took advantage of the Japanese, often buying their items at no cost, robbing the Japanese Americans of their belongings alongside their identity. Novels for Students confirms, stating, “Many people took advantage of the Japanese Americans...Almost 2,000 internees were told that their cars would be stored safely, but the army soon offered to buy them for less than they were worth” (246). In the urgency that followed Pearl Harbor, the government took advantage of thousands of Japanese Americans. Ultimately, the Japanese Americans struggled to assimilate and