In the true story "Farewell to Manzanar" we learn of a young girl's life as she grows up
during World War II in a Japanese internment camp. Along with her family and ten
thousand other Japanese we see how, as a child, these conditions forced to shape and
mold her life. This book does not directly place blame or hatred onto those persons or
conditions which had forced her to endure hardship, but rather shows us through her eyes
how these experiences have held value she has been able to grow from.
Jeanne Wakatsuki was just a seven year growing up in Ocean Park, California when her
whole life was about to change. Everything seemed to be going fine, her father owning
two fishing boats, and they lived in a large house with a large dining table which was
located in an entirely non-Japanese neighborhood. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by
the Japanese was the moment Jeanne's life was critically altered. This started WWII and
all Japanese were seen as possible threats to the nations safety. It is not difficult to
see, but difficult to justify this view, and therefore Jeanne Wakatsuki, just a child,
was now seen as a monster. Her father was immediately arrested and taken away, being
accused with furnishing oil to Japanese subs off the coast. And now, Jeanne left without
a father, her mother was trapped with the burden of Jeanne's rapidly aging grandmother
and her nine brothers and sisters. Too young to understand, Jeanne did not know why or
where her father had been taken. But she did know that one very important part of her
was gone.
Jeanne's father was a very strong, military-like, proud, arrogant, and dignified man.
He was the one who was always in control, and made all the decisions for the family. He
grew up in Japan, but left at the age of seventeen, headed for work in Hawaii, and never
again went back. Leaving his own family behind and never contacting them ever again.
But now it was time for Jeanne's family to do something. They found refuge at Terminal
Island, a place where many Japanese families live either in some transition stage or for
permanent residents. Jeanne was terrified. " It was the first time I had lived among
other Japanese, or gone to school with them, and I was terrified all the time." Her
father, as a way of keeping his children in line, told them, "I'm going to sell you to
the Chinaman." So when Jeanne saw all these Japanese kids she assumed she was being
sold. They were soon given 48 hrs. to find a new place to stay. Again they found refuge
in a minority ghetto in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. But then the government issued
Executive Order 9066 which gave the War Dept. power to define military areas in the
western states. Anyone who could possibly threaten the war effort (Japanese) were going
to be transported to internment camps.
As Jeanne boarded the Greyhound bus someone tied a number tag to her collar and one to
her duffel bag. So, for now on all families had numbers to which they could be
identified. No longer people, but animals hearded off to some unknown place. This was
to be their destiny for the rest of the war, and long after.
Being a child, Jeanne was too young to comprehend what all this really meant. She knew
that her dad was away and her family was moving a lot. At first, for Jeanne this seemed
exciting, like an adventure, since she had never been outside of L.A. before. Jeanne is
a Nissei, a natural born citizen of the United States. But, again this really didn't
mean much to her. What could she do, and what could she know? Up to this point her life
had been relatively simple. As a 7-yr. old one doesn't really no much of life anyway!
This was soon to change for her, as she is now being forced into a world guarded behind
barbed wire.
Manzanar, located near Lone Pine, California was the camp Jeanne's family, kept together
only by an effort made by Jeanne's mother, was assigned to. The conditions were raw,
cold, windy and unfriendly. In a sense a metaphor for Jeanne, their treatment, and the
unstable condition of her family and life. 10,000 Japanese shoved into a quarter mile
piece of dust-land surrounded with barbed wire, and guard towers. The living quarters
were shabbily constructed wooden barracks which didn't provide any shelter from the
blistering cold wind and the dry dust. Not quite a concentration camp, but not quite
adequate either.
At first Jeanne actually didn't mind the situation that much. She referred to as like
camping. But for the adults and her older brothers and sisters, including one newlywed
couple sharing a barrack with a family with two young kids, it was hell. 6-8 people
sharing a 15 by 20 foot space with a cot, two army blankets, and a stove which didn't
work very good. "Animals don't even live like this," was a comment made by Jeanne's
mother after her oldest brother Woody tried to ease their mama's pain. As months rolled
by and their father still imprisoned at Fort Lincoln, Montana Jeanne began to notice her
life changing. Japanese families had always been very tight units and this was beginning
to break down. As a family they would always eat together, but the conditions of the
mess halls to eat at and Jeanne's Grandmother unable to make the walk to dinner, this
tradition ended. Adults ate seperately from the children, and this in itself begins to
break down the structure and unity of the family. The parents lost control over their
children. The barracks were too small for any in-home activity and the children were
forced, not like they objected, to be outside all the time. The housing units were
strictly for coming home at night to sleep in. This break down of family structure
forced the kids to find alternate ways of occupying themselves, rather than having
parental guidance or some type of authority to watch over them.
After nine months Jeanne's father finally returned. Jeanne admitted that she really
didn't think about him that often. When he arrived no one rushed to greet or hug him,
only after a brief hesitation did Jeanne approach and serve as the entire family's
welcome home party. They Were silent because he seemed to be a changed man. He was
again using the cane he had carved years back which he used to extend a type of military
authority over everyone. Before being imprisoned, as I said, he had great dignity, but
now seemed to have lost that. He had lost it because all his loyalty and honor was
repeatedly questioned there. Drinking began to take control of him and he never would
leave the barracks. He brewed his own rice wine and brandy, and became a drunken tyrant.
Jeanne was never aware that her mother and father used to fight the way they did there.
Because she always had a room to escape to. She began to despise her father and his
authority.
Jeanne was discovering new things, and before her father's return became seriously
interested in Catholicism. She loved all the women martyr stories, and possibly could
relate to them or to some aspect in them. But before she could get baptized her father
had come back and exercised his control over it, and wouldn't allow it. He told her that
their family was Buddhist and that she was to young to even understand what Catholicism
was. Even though they never practiced the religion only celebrated a few holidays. She
was confused and wanted acceptance in any way she could find it. She took up the baton
and became very skilled at it. But her father criticized this activity, saying she
should not try to become American, but rather take up some traditional Japanese activity,
like Odori dancing. Even though he himself left that life behind him in Japan to move to
America. He could not expect his children growing up in America to only do Japanese
things, even though this place they were trapped in wasn't what America should be for
them. She began to desire the outside world. It was where everything was, but couldn't
be reached. She would see things in the Sears Roebuck catalogue and dream of that place
out there that has all these things. She even referred to this catalogue as the same as
God. She was now aware that this place she was in was not where she should be.
Manzanar became to her and her family their home. They had food, clothes, and shelter.
It had become their world all rolled up within a quarter mile, with baton lessons, dance,
schools, religion, and even a band. But the war was ending and the camps due to close in
December, 1945. Where were they to go and what were they to do? These questions
frightened her and her parents. There were no answers. How could a government take
everything away, put us in camps, then let us loose with nothing? And how were they to
be treated once they were out there. Fearing the stories they heard that earlier
released internees had been beating or even killed. But when they finally left it was
different. They expected people lining the streets with guns, or billboards reading "go
home you dirty Japs" on them.
They were put up in a housing compound in Cabrillo. It was small but her mom now could
cook and the cold winds didn't get in. Jeanne enrolled in Jr. high school, and her
mother got a job at a cannery. Her father refusing to stoop that low didn't find a job
for a long time. Her first experience on the outside of Manzanar had the lurking of all
her fears of not being accepted. When asked to read in class as the new student, she
stood up and read well. Then a girl said something that haunts her to this day. "Gee I
didn't know you could speak English." This remark made by a white girl, whom she became
friends with later, made her realize that this is how things were going to be. They
weren't going to beat or injure her, they were going to see she has slanted eyes and
assume that she is different. She only wanted acceptance. And realized that it was
going to happen unless she proved something to them. She did. Since she had taken baton
at Manzanar she made the marching band as majorette. The first Japanese majorette ever
at her school. Then on to win beauty queen in high school. These things made her feel
accepted, one of the others. But she was denying the fact that she was doing this for
them not completely for herself. She realized this when she was walking down the isle to
receive her carnival queen award. A kind of revelation hit her that none of this really
mattered any more, and wished she had taken Odori classes like her father wanted her to.
I think this revealed that she had finally found herself among all these other people and
didn't have to be the same as them, she could now be her, for herself.
Nearly 30 yrs. Later when she herself was married and had 3 children of her own was she
able to accept that part that over the years she tried to forget. She said that she was
always putting off trips to Manzanar because she was afraid it might have the same effect
on her as it did when she was young. That feeling of inferiority and nothingness in this
world she had always been a part of. She used to hate herself for the way white people
would get to her with one little comment like "Oh! You speak English," that she would
feel completely foreign in her world. When she finally visited the ruins of Manzanar she
"no longer wanted to lose or have those years erased. Having found it, I could say what
you can really say when you've truly come to know a place: Farewell." This says it all.
She had finally been able to see that Manzanar was one giant stepping stone she had
climbed, and that gave her worth, so she could feel at peace with herself. Her life had
really begun at Manzanar, but she isn't about to let it end there.
In conclusion, this story was well written and I could sympathize with every trial and
tribulation she encountered. Some may say she didn't value her Japanese heritage enough
or was pitying herself for being Japanese. But she, in my view is a hero because she
took everything that was imposed on her and endured through it. She was able to accept
herself through a kind of spiritual growth, which was both revelational, and
inspirational. I only hope that one day I can make some sense of the things gone wrong
in my life, or at least grow from them. Jeanne is a woman now, who as a child was thrown
around in a racial roller coaster, and can accept herself as an important part of society
and life, rather than needing others to accept it for her.
Note: I really enjoyed this book and the next time I head out to Mammoth Lakes I will
definitely try and find Manzanar.
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