The shawl

The shawl

When dealing with a premature death, a lot of people handle it differently but it is not unheard of for someone to hold onto that memory of her baby. Her way about doing it was to pretend that she was still alive and write to her. She could have

When the Emperor was Devine

The confession part of the book summed up the life of a Japanese during the time of the interment camp to me. The father was being interrogated and in his confession, instead of admitting to be the one they were looking for, he admitted to be every Japanese man in America. After Pearl Harbor, all the Japanese people were blamed for it when they took no part in the situation. The father was one of the men and he decided to confess knowing that whether he did or did not he still was going to be accused. During the confession it was as if he was tryin to just take on all of the things that his people may have done both good and bad. He said how he was the man who crept through windows and attacked his wife and daughters but he also was the buddist priest and the grocer. By doing this he also showed that he was also an American, that he was that same man whose their neighboor, their workers, their educators. It was more like a reality check to the officers who interregated him. Its as if he was saying that your accusing your everyday people who live just like Americans for a crime that other Japanese people done.

When the Emperor was Devine

The first couple chapters in this book have a way of appealing to different emotions. One way this was done was by showing a switching of potitions. In the first chapter, the mother was forced to stay strong when dealing with the issue of havin to leave and go to the interment camp. She gets rid of the animals, and stays strong as she gets her kids prepared to take the trip. She is forced to stay strong through this difficult time because the father is around and she doesnt want her kids to worry eventhough she is scared of what lies in the future for them. Where the author appeals to emtion is the switch in the second chapter. On the train ride the daughter decideds to be the stronger one and takes some of the load off her mother. She doesnt want her brother to worry so she tells him what he wants to hear such as the fact that they will get to see 8 horses when her brother ask. She also tries to stop her mother from worrying when she tells her that the man she met near the bathroom said everything was going to be ok. He didnt really say this but the daughter didnt want her mother to worry or be scared anymore so it was as if she took the role as the parent to protect her familly since her father was not there and since she could tell her mother couldnt handle the stress. This appealed to emotion because it made the realization of what was going to happen more real and scary when the daughter had to take the role and be strong.

When the Emperor was Devine

In the book when the author put great emphasis on the killing of the dog, the giving away of the cat, and the letting go of the bird, it further emphasized the importance of animals in the Asian cultures. The fact that the mother got rid of these animals before her family was takin to the internment camp showed that she cared about them and wanted to spare them the pain and suffering of what she was about to go through. He sympathy and compashion she felt in order to save these animals could have stemed from their praising of animals in certian parts of Asia. This came to my mind when I thought about a book a read as a child called Chinese New Year that spoke about the year of the dragon. In the chinese culture they associate 12 different animals with the rotating 12 year cycle. It is said that the animal that you are associated with represents how others see you or how you are presenting yourself. One of the 12 animals is a dog which represents honosty, intellegence, and loyalty among other things. This then made me think about how the mother killed the dog before her family was taking away. The author could have put so much attention on to these animals because of the importance of animals in certain asian cultures but she could have had the dog killed for a deeper purpose. Every other pet was giving away but the dog was killed. This could have been because he was one of the special animals and it could have signified the mothers honesty and loyalty to her culture and her beliefs.