When The Emperor Was Divine By Julie Otsuka

Marginalization of Japanese Americans during WWII Imagine being in a public setting and people told you to leave because of the way you looked. In the book, When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka that is exactly what happened to a Japanese family in California. The family has forced out of their home and sent to an internment camp. The story is based on the stories of Japanese Americans during WWII. Forced marginalization affects people negatively due to isolation and a loss of cultural identity as it creates a stronger desire to fit in with society and creates distance from others who are marginalized. The girl’s marginalization may make her willing to sacrifice their morals, identity, and sense of growth over time and become

The girl’s lack of hope after her marginalization is displayed when she says“‘We’re never getting off the train’”(39). The girl is displayed using a hyperbole to prove a sense of hopelessness. She is impacted by marginalization as Otsuka voices the thought through dialogue as instead of the girl keeping it to herself. The girl voicing the thought to her family proves that she is losing her sense of personal growth. Not only does she convey a feeling of hopelessness, she tells it to others meaning she is not trying to grow stronger from marginalization but instead losing a growth mentality. She is distancing herself from the Japanese community as her hopelessness on a train full of Japanese Americans who her also marginalized, all she wants is to get off. Getting off could represent leaving the Japanese community to her as the train is a representation of the Japanese community being marginalized. All Japanese Americans are on trains while all other citizens are not transported to internment camps. Getting off the train is synonymous with joining the US community as she would join the other citizens and become integrated into dominant society. Her past self growth and want for improvements is proven in“The year before she had won first prize”(41). The girl’s win is a flashback representing a reflection on the past which allows the reader to visualize the girl as full of determination and a will to try harder to succeed. It is in sharp contrast to the previous piece of evidence and proves the girls sense of want for personal growth is diminishing as before she had entered contests while now she is hopeless. However, the flashback is the boy looking to a time that the girl still had a desire to personally grow. The fact that this is the boy’s flashback could mean that Otsuka is trying to