White Best Friend Poem Analysis

Racism against any culture abuses one’s dignity, and one’s culture. Common

themes in the poem, white Best Friend, and the short story “Mericans” all have a

common theme: Racism. Racism is a horrible characteristic that each nation

shares. Even if people don’t realize that they are being racist. In these short

stories/poems, I am going to share different views and literary analysis on racism.

Starting with “White Best Friend” The theme for this essay is racism. The narrator

of the poem is a young 14 year old Japanese girl; who has a best friend that is

American. It took place in the era of WWII; when the Japanese went and bombed

Pearl Harbor. Stating that the Narrator is confused because her white best friend

said “that she

But she is trying to speak Spanish to them. Not

at all knowing they speak English – because they look Mexican. When she asks the

narrator if she wants a picture, she says “yes” in English. This comes to a surprise

to the lady. This is an example of racism in this short story; because she judged

them for their looks, not for what they know. The children combined “Americans”

with “Mexicans” and came up with “Mericans.”

The literary devices in the poem “White Best Friend” points towards racism. For

example “She was sitting on the other side of the room”(line 8) is a type of

metaphor suggesting that the Japanese and Americans live on the opposite sides

of the ocean. This shows how the American friend started ignoring the narrator

and keeping her distance. The author is showing the racism beginning. The author

uses an allusion to refer to the war; that the narrator apparently started. Another

metaphor that the narrator uses in her poem suggests that Americans are racist

towards all Japanese for Starting WWII with Japan. Continuing with other

Metaphor’s the author uses a Tomato Plant for showing the outcome of the end of

the war. It shows that Americans will see it wasn’t the Japanese-Americans