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Critique of “When the Emperor was Divine”
The author of the book ‘When the Empire was Divine’ is Julie Otsuka. As an award-winning Japanese-American writer, she has written several historical fiction books recounting the plight of Japanese, living in America during the 2nd World War (Wilson 2). In as much as she did not live through the Japanese internment period, her personal experience reconnects with her mother who lived during the time. Julie was born in 1962 to parents of Japanese descent and has two brothers. After completing her high school level, she pursued a degree in Arts and graduated in 1984 from Yale University. In 1999, she graduated with Masters in Fine Arts from Columbia University (Wilson 2).
Julie Otsuka wrote the novel ‘When the Empire was Divine’ with an aim of reaching out the United States history learners. The history fiction would help the learners have an idea of how it felt being Japanese during the 2nd World War and living in America (Wilson 5). Otsuka elaborates the plight of the affected through a single family of four. The first chapter is written in the perspective of the woman, the second in the perspective of the girl, the third in the perspective of the boy, the fourth in the ‘we’ perspective and the fifth and the last is the father’s point of view and confession. The lack of the use of fictitious names of the characters causes some detachment and shows a lot of generalization. However, the author used the characters intentionally to show that the family’s experiences were not unique. The unrevealed characters also symbolize that the family represents the plight of many. The unrevealed identities also signify their loss of identity in the United States.
Otsuka aims at enabling learners to identify with those who suffered during the World War two to understand the effects of the war. A family is made to evacuate from their comfortable home to somewhere in a desert. The climate is unfair to them, and they are treated like detainees. Despite their loyalty and innocence they are treated like criminals, queue for foods, get harassed by the people they pass by on their way to the internment camp. On returning to their home three years later, they find that the house has been scandalized. Despite the sigh of relief to get back home, they begin from zero, and they do not sleep comfortably as they are in fear of someone shooting at them. When the woman goes to seek a job she does not get one since the employers fear to scare other employees. So she ends up working for others (Wilson 10). The children are segregated in school and are not free to participate as they could draw attention to themselves.
Otsuka gets a bit insensitive when in the first chapter she elaborates about the killing of the white dog (Otsuka 12). The killing is not necessary for as much as the family wants to discard the family pets. There is better way of doing that or even not mentioning it at all. For the people sensitive to the animals the killing evokes a feeling of animosity on the character and the writer as well. The tool used for the murder of the dog also instills a lot of the pain on behalf of the animal to the reader.
Otsuka uses a lot of narration of the actions to tell the story. Her art nature makes her get very sensitive to fine details that make the reader identify with the situation explained (Wilson 2). The narration gives details of each and every event. However, it makes the novel boring to some extent such that the book recollects in the last chapter. The use of some details and the actions do not relate to the intention of the novel and hence, give a disconnection (Rosenwasser 63). At a point when the author explains the actions of the children, there is some interference with the suffering that should be intensified by all characters. However, the use of these actions may show the norm with which the affected take life since they have no power to change things (Otsuka 98-100). In fact, they have no choice but to live one day at a time since they do not know how long they have to live that way.
In the third chapter, the perception of the boy gives details about the father (Otsuka 90). However, the child perceptive breaks the connection and for many readers the perceptive is shallow. The wish that the father would have worn shoes before he left has no connection with better life (Otsuka 85). Therefore, despite the fact that the boy seems to take note of very many details, it requires a keen look at the details for the reader to understand the chapter without sentimental judgment of the child’s way of looking at things. The child wishes that life would have been different and that she would not have been a victim anyway. He does not realize any matter how he tries to behave like the Americans the ancestry does not change. However, it was a way for Otsuka to show the helplessness of the Japanese during that period (Wilson 12). That their efforts to demonstrate their innocence and to behave like the Americans does not bear fruits.
The keen use of details in the description of the actions of the family members shows us the innocent of the interned Japanese families. When the mother is packing, we realize that the boy’s room looks like any other place of an American boy child (Otsuka 5). It does not by any way reflect the Japanese ancestry. Apart from the wedding presents they had gotten from Japan fifteen years ago, the family lives in an American lifestyle (Otsuka 8). Therefore, the style is clear and efficient in getting the message home as intended by the author. Otsuka also uses dialogue to express what is in the minds of the characters. In most cases, the characters hardly think about their fate. The idea of thinking about their fate is quickly brushed off. When the boy asks the woman when they are likely to go home, the woman dismisses it since she has no idea and does not want to show despair to the child.
The Chinese culture cannot identify one on one to Otsuka’s narration. However, to a United States history learner, the aspect or racism is vivid in the book. A student understands better about the events of the period. Though the writer is biased by writing from a Japanese perspective, the plight reflects the most affected side. However, the question still stirs in the mind of the readers whether the United States has gotten over the racism and if there would be a repeat of events in the case of a similar event. The novel also helps people from other places to be warned against racism as some of the affected are innocent. An understanding of what the victims undergo out of their color should make others appreciate people from all races without discrimination. That way, no one will subject the other to suffering due to their ancestry.
The return and the confession of the Father help understand the plight of the people who were detained and treated as suspects. The old and unrecognizable bent man returns to give a testimony of the suffering after the arrest (Otsuka 132). His condition reflects that the things will not be the same again. Also the fact that the flower garden is gone shows that the real life will not be back again (Otsuka 138). The old father among other affected people finds it hard to leave behind their experiences, and the brainwash after the arrest makes them own up the mistake and regret it ever happened.
In conclusion, Otsuka gives a clear and accurate explanation of the plight of the Japanese Americans during and after the Second World War. The theme of racism is very evident through the novel. The use of character-focus helps in personalizing the occurrences and seeing them from a unique angle. That way a reader understands and identifies with the character, their feelings, and experiences.
Work Cited
Wilson, Judith M. Julie Otsuka’s When the Emperor Was Divine. San Francisco: Hyperink, 2012, Print
Rosenwasser, David, and Jill Stephen. Writing Analytically. , 2015. Print.
Otsuka, Julie. When the Emperor Was Divine. London: Fig Tree, 2013. Print.