A Family Life Confined

Theme

A Family Life Confined:

     In the beginning of the book, her family is relatively normal, but as the book goes on, it is clear that the Wakatsukis begin to fall apart. The way they are obligated to live in Manzanar took a major toll on all of them. One of the major aspects was that her father’s strong character wasn’t there for anybody to depend on anymore.

     The collapse of her family can be first seen when they start to ditch their family mealtime and start to get acquainted to the mess hall lifestyle. When they stop eating their meals together, they stop connecting, as a family should.  She finds herself longing for her old dining table back in her old home. All this time without her family leaves her with no mentor and very little guidance.  

     When her father returns from custody, it doesn’t go as well for the family as they previously thought. He came back delusional and bitter, and is no longer the man that her family depended on. Later, most of her older siblings abandon her family and transfer to New Jersey, showing the affects that Manzanar had on close to all families involved.

     Jeanne seems to blame her family’s collapse on Manzanar, rather than the entire war itself. While the war is the reason the camp exists, it only seems to directly affect the world outside of them. The everyday problems and injustices are the things she seems to focus on the most for the changes in her family. Things like the un-partitioned toilets, lack of privacy, and overcrowding became emotionally and physically stressful. The stress of everything became too much for the Wakatsukis, and most other families, which explains the riots in the camp and her father’s hostile actions toward her mother.

    The separation between previously happy Japanese-American families were torn apart by the confinement and discriminations of everyday life rather than the war that put them there.