Plot:
Exposition: War
With the
bombing of Pearl Harbor infecting America with paranoid thoughts of Japanese
espionage, the government makes some seriously immoral decisions.
Even though
they actually have no real constitutional power to do so, they arrest innocent
men, like papa and take all Japanese Americans from their own homes and
disperse them throughout Central America without any real intentions.
The
exposition is really just about the survival of one Japanese American family
withstanding and waiting out the madness as calmly as possible.
Rising Action: Manzanar
Upon
arriving at Manzanar, nothing seems to be set up for or organized for them, so
ironically, they end up prepping and building a lot of the camp on their own.
Many of the
internees grow irritated of the bad food, crowdedness, and lack of privacy.
Riots break out and people are tired of being interned for no good reason.
Although
Jeanne’s family is relatively normal, papas return changed everything. He came
back violent, alcoholic, and unfriendly. The type of man you don’t want at the
head of your household.
Climax: Leaving
During this
point in the book, just as they were forced into internment, they are being
forced back out into a world that is completely different than what they have
grown acquainted to. The event causes
the most amounts of concern and stress throughout the entire book.
It also
leaves their entire family in a predicament, they have no home or jobs to go
back to, and once their gone, there’s no turning back.
Falling Action: School
Once her family is out of Manzanar, the lives of
everybody is affected. Jeanne needs to learn how to become American and
Japanese at the same time, and papa hits rock bottom.
Jeanne goes
to public school, and even though she was crowned queen at the school dance,
she is still left feeling uncomfortable, and completely out casted. In other
words, she was right back where she left off; it was exactly like being out
casted from the world in Manzanar.
Resolution: The Return
At this part in the book, Jeanne, who is all grown
up now, returns to the ruins of Manzanar with her husband and kids.
For her, the experience includes
hearing the voice of her dead mother and finally thinking about her father as
something more than a broken alcoholic. Maybe even as her "first bubbly sense
of liberation”(Houston52:1).
For so long she had held Manzanar
and all of its memories deep inside her, but when she returns, she
finally gets the closer that she so deeply deserved.
This link includes the many other stories of people who were interned just like Jeanne and her family were. It helps give a better understanding of what families and people went through just because of their heritage.
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