Farewell to Manzanar

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Farewell to Manzanar
Cover of the 1983 edition
1983 edition
Author Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, James D. Houston
Country United States
Language English
Subject(s) Japanese American internment history
Genre(s) Non-fiction
Publisher Laurel Leaf
Publication date 1972
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 203 pp
ISBN ISBN 0-553-27258-6

Farewell to Manzanar is a memoir published in 1972 by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston.[1][2] It was adapted in the form of a television movie in 1976 starring Yuki Shimoda, Nobu McCarthy, Pat Morita, and Mako.[3]

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

The book describes Wakatsuki Houston's (Jeanne) and her family's experience being imprisoned at the Manzanar concentration camp as part of the United States government's internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, as well as events concerning her family both before and after the internment.

[edit] Main characters

Jeanne Wakatsuki, the book's protagonist, is a Nisei (the child of a Japanese immigrant). She was 7 at the time of the internment. She is a native-born American citizen, speaking only English, and wanting to fit in socially. After her family is released from the camp, she feels her heritage is racially preventing her to become a person like a "sequined princess leading orchestras across a football field, the idol of cheering fans"(this is content from Farewell to Manzanar).

Ko Wakatsuki, Jeanne's father, emigrated to Honolulu, Hawaii and then eventually to Idaho from Japan and left behind many relatives. He can be stubborn and proud.

Woody is Jeanne's brother. He wants to prove to his father and family that he has honor by joining the U.S. Army. After joining and fighting in the Pacific Theater, Woody visits Papa's Aunt Toyo, who gave Papa the money for the voyage to Hawaii.

Shikata ga nai is a phrase used often within the book, and is a phrase meaning that a person has to endure what cannot be changed. This non-fiction book has become a staple of curriculum in schools and universities across the United States. In fact, in an effort to educate Californians about the experiences of Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in American concentration camps during World War II, the book and the movie were distributed in 2002 as a part of kit to approximately 8,500 public elementary and secondary schools and 1,500 public libraries in California. The kit also included study guides tailored to the book, and a video teaching guide.[4]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki (1973, 1983). Farewell To Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment. Laurel Leaf. ISBN 0-553272-58-6. 
  2. ^ Discover Nikkei: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. DiscoverNikkei.org (2007-01-09). Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  3. ^ Farewell to Manzanar (1976) (TV). National Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  4. ^ Office of the Lieutenant Governor, State of Califonia (2002-02-19). "Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante Announces Distribution of 10,000 "Farewell to Manzanar" Educational Kits to Public Schools and Libraries". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.

[edit] References

(from the MLA database, March 2008)

  1. "National and Ethnic Affiliation in Internment Autobiographies of Childhood by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and George Takei." By: Rocío G. Davis, Amerikastudien/American Studies, 2006; 51 (3): 355-68.
  2. "'But Isn't This the Land of the Free?': Resistance and Discovery in Student Responses to Farewell to Manzanar." By: Virginia A. Chappell, IN: Writing in Multicultural Settings. Ed. Carol Severino, Juan C. Guerra and Johnnella E. Butler. New York, NY: Modern Language Association of America; 1997. pp. 172-88
  3. "The Politics of Possession: The Negotiation of Identity in American in Disguise, Homebase, and Farewell to Manzanar." By: Patricia A. Sakurai. IN: Privileging Positions: The Sites of Asian American Studies. Ed. Gary Y. Okihiro, Marilyn Alquizola, Dorothy Fujita Rony and K. Scott Wong. Pullman: Washington State UP; 1995. pp. 157-70. ALSO IN: Hitting Critical Mass: A Journal of Asian American Cultural Criticism, 1993 Fall; 1 (1): 39-56.

[edit] External links

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