Analysis of Jeanne Wakatsuki's Short Story, "Farewell to Manzanar"
For such an exquisite and unique style of writing known as Japanese literature. I chose a literary piece by an author who has been through unimaginable and horrific times in their life, solely because of their Japanese background. Jeanne Wakatsuki, wrote the influential and recognized short story, Farewell to Manzanar. Despite the story being written in the year 1972, the events recorded actually take place in the 1940’s in western California. Less than a year after the tragic incident of Pearl Harbor caused by Japanese fighter jets. In her piece, she describes her dreadful experiences that she and her family had to face in California from being Japanese. I chose this literary piece to represent Japanese literature for the purpose being that the author closely depicts the life and culture of Japan in a more new modern era. Though, at the same time, including essential Japanese traditional literary and cultural elements in the writing.
Wakatsuki’s family consisted of her mother, father, and nine other siblings. Though the family soon found themselves in great poverty. This was because of her father’s forced departure to a rehabilitation camp. It became a huge problem for her family to have an average life with their main source of income gone, as spoken by Jeanne Wakatsuki in an interview about her novel, "My family was everything and he was the particle center of it all. For him to just be suddenly taken away was very disconcerting" (Jeanne Wakatsuki). Since for most Japanese families, the father was the main provider to sustain the needs of the family. This caused the Wakatsuki’s family to quickly fall into poverty. Through her written experiences as a child the reader is able to visualize the cultural life of the Japanese family. We can see this take place in the story when the family is forced to withdraw from Terminal Island by the Navy. They are forced to leave much of their home accessories behind only taking their valuable possessions with them. Many of the goods brought by the mother being traditional Japanese items, “She had brought along her pottery, her silver, heirlooms like the kimonos Granny brought, tea sets, and one fine old set of china” (Wakatsuki 3). The reader is able to encounter an authentic Japanese culture experience from reading pieces as such from the story.
As the story finds itself coming to an end, the family is able to rejoin with other close Japanese relatives from past times when making their trip to Manzanar, which is the rehabilitation camp they were ordered to go. This brings in a family tie that has a positive effect on Jeanne Wakatsuki and her whole family. Which is important to the story since it almost all the time had only adverse effects to the Japanese family. All in all, this authentic story of how a Japanese person would be treated during this time, brings a natural bond between how culture affects the personal writings of the author.
Wakatsuki’s family consisted of her mother, father, and nine other siblings. Though the family soon found themselves in great poverty. This was because of her father’s forced departure to a rehabilitation camp. It became a huge problem for her family to have an average life with their main source of income gone, as spoken by Jeanne Wakatsuki in an interview about her novel, "My family was everything and he was the particle center of it all. For him to just be suddenly taken away was very disconcerting" (Jeanne Wakatsuki). Since for most Japanese families, the father was the main provider to sustain the needs of the family. This caused the Wakatsuki’s family to quickly fall into poverty. Through her written experiences as a child the reader is able to visualize the cultural life of the Japanese family. We can see this take place in the story when the family is forced to withdraw from Terminal Island by the Navy. They are forced to leave much of their home accessories behind only taking their valuable possessions with them. Many of the goods brought by the mother being traditional Japanese items, “She had brought along her pottery, her silver, heirlooms like the kimonos Granny brought, tea sets, and one fine old set of china” (Wakatsuki 3). The reader is able to encounter an authentic Japanese culture experience from reading pieces as such from the story.
As the story finds itself coming to an end, the family is able to rejoin with other close Japanese relatives from past times when making their trip to Manzanar, which is the rehabilitation camp they were ordered to go. This brings in a family tie that has a positive effect on Jeanne Wakatsuki and her whole family. Which is important to the story since it almost all the time had only adverse effects to the Japanese family. All in all, this authentic story of how a Japanese person would be treated during this time, brings a natural bond between how culture affects the personal writings of the author.
Biography of Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston was born in 1934 in Inglewood, California. Born the youngest of ten children, she spent most of her childhood in Southern California. Soon after the tragedy of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military hunted down Japanese men in America and put them in rehabilitation camps. One of the thousands of men being Jeanne’s father. This had an immediate toll on her large family. For a whole decade, Jeanne Wakatsuki and her family lived in multiple ghettos across California. During this time, she underwent inhumane and cruel experiences as a child. Harassed and bullied by other races for her Japanese ethnicity and beliefs. When finally she and her family were incarcerated concentration camp at Manzanar, California. Though being a tragedy for being taken to a rehabilitation camp were often many of the Japanese families were abused. It provided a much more secure environment for her, helping her grow and mature. This was for the reason that others at the camp were close relatives and all had Japanese descent. Protecting her and her family from racial discrimination by others.
Once these camps were deemed unlawful, Jeanne and her family moved back to San Jose in 1945. Despite her family having a brutal start, she was able to attend college at San Jose St. University, where she also met her husband James Houston. Having three children and a stable life after college, she had forcefully put her dreadful childhood memories behind her. Though in 1971, a nephew, born in Manzanar asked Houston to explain to him about what the camp was like since his parents continuously refused to talk about the tragedy. She quickly broke down and told her nephew how life was like as a child at Manzanar. Being reminded of the old haunting memories, she and her husband wrote Farewell to Manzanar. Her story soon became one of the most popular Pearl Harbor aftermath stories on earth. She soon became a remarkably popular Japanese author. Even winning valuable accolades such as the Humanitas Prize in 1976, the Wonder Woman Award in 1984, and many more. Her writings from stories like Farewell to Manzanar brought a different stylistic kind of literature to the western world. It gave millions of Americans the real and authentic view of how Japanese life was like when growing up in the U.S. years after Pearl Harbor.
Once these camps were deemed unlawful, Jeanne and her family moved back to San Jose in 1945. Despite her family having a brutal start, she was able to attend college at San Jose St. University, where she also met her husband James Houston. Having three children and a stable life after college, she had forcefully put her dreadful childhood memories behind her. Though in 1971, a nephew, born in Manzanar asked Houston to explain to him about what the camp was like since his parents continuously refused to talk about the tragedy. She quickly broke down and told her nephew how life was like as a child at Manzanar. Being reminded of the old haunting memories, she and her husband wrote Farewell to Manzanar. Her story soon became one of the most popular Pearl Harbor aftermath stories on earth. She soon became a remarkably popular Japanese author. Even winning valuable accolades such as the Humanitas Prize in 1976, the Wonder Woman Award in 1984, and many more. Her writings from stories like Farewell to Manzanar brought a different stylistic kind of literature to the western world. It gave millions of Americans the real and authentic view of how Japanese life was like when growing up in the U.S. years after Pearl Harbor.