Friday, April 17, 2009
"Manzanar" Final Blog
Toward the end of Chapter 22, Jeanne writes: "Papa's life ended in Manzanar, though he lived for twelve more years after getting out. Until this trip I had not been able to admit that my own life really began there." What does she mean? What examples from the text connect to this statement?
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I think its really interesting how in this book, Jeanne's life started and papa's life ended. Papa had worked so hard to get the courage to leave Japan, to start a new life in America with next to nothing, that when he had to leave Manzanar and start again, it killed him (not literally, mentally sort of.) His whole life he had been trying to rise to the top, reach his goals, make a life that he could be proud of. When what he worked so hard for was ripped to shreds, he had no place to go, no one to turn to. He was too proud to start over again on the East coast, and Manzanar had become his home. Sometimes, when you work really hard on something, and it doesn't work out, you don't have the strength to try again. Thats what happened to Papa, he was too old, too tired, to start again.
However, Jeannne became very independent in Manzanar. She learned how to make do with what she had. She also grew up there, it was an important yet painful part of her childhood. Jeanne also said that Manzanar had become a state of mind, that it lowered your self esteem, but it also reminded her of who she was. When she went to visit it, so many years later, she finally said farewell to the part of Manzanar she was holding on to. The doubts about herself that Manzanar sparked, the way they were treated while they lived there, so many things that happened that made her question her Japanese roots. When she went to visit i think she finally embraced the person she truly was, and she also understood the importance of her Manzanar experience.
She means that in Manzanar he was a different person than the type of person he was after Manzanar so part of him died when he left Manzanr.
when she says he is dead she means she lost him. she is trying to say he lost a part of himself. the part that he lost died. when someone has two sides of them one side takes over. one side lives the other dies. thats what happened to papa.
Papa's life ended in manzanar." this quote sais simply that the papa jeanne knew before manzanar, is no longer around. jeanne's father has lost his families respect and no longer rules over them. he has lost his integrity and has been sepperated from his family. the main reson he is not reseped is because of his drinking habbits. who wants to be lead by somone who spends their time drinking instead of thinking about what would benefit the group or family? jeannes brothers took over after he left and because of his new outlook, they continued to fill his possition, knocking him down the totum pole, and out of the family leader possition he was used to holding. as a result he drank more and more. this is called a vicious circle. he drinks, his family loses respect for him, family members take over and the cycle begins again.
jeanne would have been in the same prediciment as her father had she been a littel older. she was too young to understand what manzanar was and was therefore not dieing from the start. manzanar was one of the first things she knew so it hurt her but not as badly as it hurt the adults who had lived their lives and understood what was happening. jeanne had not enough sense of home to understand that it was being taken away. she thought of manzanar as a mandatory vacation. most of jeannes child life was spent at manzanar. this, in a way defind who she would be. she learned most of the skills that were of use later in life she learned at manzanar.
This quote shows how Jeanne and her father separate throughout the book. In manzanar, Jeanne began to find freedom through things people would find "American." But Papa did not want to give in to being more American. This difference went on and continued between Jeanne and her father when they left manzanar. When Jeanne needed to be accepted she noticed it was because she was "foreign", she became more American to make herself fit in while her father did not want her to be American. While they had many disagreements about this + papas drinking, it teared them apart. It shows that her and papa has very different ideas of how to be accepted and live in America.
I also think Papas life ended because his lack of respect by his family after he returned. It led up to Jeannes feelings of her fathers life dying in manzanar.
She is saying that when he was in Manzanar he found joy in many things like painting and gardening-even though he still drank alcoholic beverages. He was vedry happy and when he left, he lost all of that. He bagan drinking again. She writes that because Manzanar was a very important place for Papa. Papa was at his happierst at Manzanar. When he left he wasn't the same.
For Jeanne this quote shows how the events of her early life shaped who she eventually became long after leaving Manzanar. When Jeanne says her life began in Manzanar, she is saying that Manzanar was the place where she became a part of a struggle, and where she learned about many of the injustices of life. In Manzanar, things were defined for her for the first time in her life, like how people are treated unfairly and the ways that people can retain their dignity even they are treated as inferior beings. In Manzanar Jeanne also defined for herself many things that she would not have thought about until later in life, such as her religion and her loyalty and belief in American culture and Japanese culture. Jeanne also seemed to become more of an individual in her years in Manzanar. Before being forced from her home, Jeanne was just another member of the Wakatsuki family but once inside Manzanar she was an individual, making her own decisions and thinking for herself. Jeanne writes later in the book that she experienced her first true independence once released from Manzanar, but it seems that the beginnings of that sense of individuality were formed in Manzanar.
When Jeanne writes that her father's life ended in Manzanar, she is implying that once back outside Manzanar everything that he had been before was lost. Before Manzanar Papa had been fun-loving and carefree. When he arrived in Manzanar he became much more serious and angry and only a few shreds of his old self remained. By the time they were out of Manzanar, Papa's old personality had faded completely,and with it his sense of pride.
When she says that Papa's life ended in Manzanar, she means that before they were moved, Papa had created a life for himself. He started with nothing and built all he had. Achieved so much. When he was taken into custody, everything he had always worked for, was taken away. Many years of hard work were taken in one or two. Papa lived for his pride by wearing fine, expensive clothing and showing off all of his skills to his neighbors. Because of this, when he lost his pride, he also lost his life. His life was gone and just left a body with nothing. That's why he started drinking. To fill the gap.
I think that Jeanne's life began at Manzanar because before then, her life just had it's everyday pattern and when she got to Manzanar, she had to start harvesting the qpecific unique details of her life and nothing was really the same everyday. She began to learn valuable life lessons. Everything that she can really show and stand for in life was started or built in Manzanar. Her life in Manzanar helps define who she is in life and that's why her life "began" there.
This quote is a metaphor, like the one in the Color of Water where Ruth starts out the first chapter with "Im Dead". Jeanne's father is some what going through what Ruth did but under a different circumstance. The part that died in him was his stubbornness and violent behavior towards his family. When he was in Manzanar he had a rough time adjusting and didn't like the environment that he was in. He took it out by getting intoxicated and getting into arguments. He lost this towards the end of his time in Manzanar. When he started to change, and accept life there for what it is. He began to go out more, to enjoy the life, and nature. But it began to change when they got the notification that they could move. He drank heavier then before, and started to argue again with family members. They had no home to go to once they left Manzanar, so for him it was as if his life already ended. It seems that when there are changes happening to him or his family that he becomes dead and lost. He gives up on life when a problem occurs, and won't try to be open minded about it.
Jeanne and her father both had different experiences at the camp. She meant a lot of things when she said that papa's life ended and her life began. Jeanne was still young when she left and had a lot of life left ahead of her. Papa was old and his "father and mother" were at war one of them was defeated. Japan, his "mother." He had a lot of family there. Even though he did not have contact with them he still had part of him in Japan. The camp was basically all he had left. He lost his home. Jeanne's life was just beginning. She had a life to live. Papa's life was already almost done. He had nothing left.
I think this quote shows the differences between papa and Jeanne. This quote means that papa became someone else during their stay at Manzanar. Papa turned into someone who they did not reconize. I agree with Emmett when he said that she means that a piece of papa died at the camp. For Jeanne, she kind of grew up there and the camp molded her into what she was when she left the camp.
Papa's life ended in Manzanar." this quote says simply that the papa Jeanne knew before Manzanar, is no longer around. Jeanne's father has lost his families respect and no longer rules over them. He has lost his integrity and has been separated from his family. The main reason he is not respected is because of his drinking habits. Who wants to be lead by someone who spends their time drinking instead of thinking about what would benefit the group or family? Jeanne’s brothers took over after he left and because of his new outlook, they continued to fill his position, knocking him down the totem pole, and out of the family leader position he was used to holding. As a result he drank more and more. This is called a vicious circle. He drinks, his family loses respect for him, family members take over and the cycle begins again.
Jeanne would have been in the same predicament as her father had she been a little older. She was too young to understand what Manzanar was and was therefore not dieing from the start. Manzanar was one of the first things she knew so it hurt her but not as badly as it hurt the adults who had lived their lives and understood what was happening. Jeanne had not enough sense of home to understand that it was being taken away. She thought of Manzanar as a mandatory vacation. Most of Jeanne child life was spent at Manzanar. This, in a way definds who she would be. She learned most of the skills that were of use later in life she learned at Manzanar.
When Papa immigrated from Japan to California, he had no money. He started as an "Economic Zero" as Jeanne put it. When he is forced out of Manzanar with his remaining family, this quote also applies. He has no home, his fishing gear, fleet, boats and equipment were taken away from him. He was too old and dissanimated to start over. He did not want to move to New Jersey. He was fooling himself, and his family members. They all knew that it was not going to happen, but yet kept themselves content with the idea of being happy together outside of Manzanar. The bad press coming from California about Anti-Orientals, or organizations that were forming to keep the japanese out was not encouraging papa to move back. But what else could he do, he was old, out of a job, and was part of the most hated race in the US at that time. His pride also prevented him from starting over in the East coast. Having to live in shame for three years because of his ethnicity broke papa's pride. He knew he could not bear to start over. His spirt died in Manzanar. He was stripped of his dignity, and coming from a family in Japan such as papa's, he had nothing left. He came by himself, poor, without money bearing only his pride, dignity and hope. Then he built a life fro himself. After this was snacked away papa was a broken man. He died in Manzanar.
Contrasting, Jeanne’s life starts in Manzanar. She learns the “art” of baton twirling, which she relies on to make herself fit in when she moves back to California. She opens her life to the world in Manzanar, and only after coming back with her husband and two children dose she realize how Manzanar shaped her. She begins to speak more of it, and it becomes more like a reality to her, than a fantasy. When she is at the camp, close to block 28, she thinks about her life, and accepts it. She realizes how much of a prominent part being Japanese and living in Manzanar plays in her life. She realizes he wants to fit in so much, it is not really her. When she is being crowned carnival queen she realizes she tried so hard to be accepted, it is not her they are accepting, it’s the part of her that uses her body and “feminism” to win them over. She realizes that she does not want this fake acceptance, and that it is too late to be an Odori dancer, too late too be an American. When she visits Manzanar, and she sees the rock gardens that are so trademark Japanese she is at ease. Jeanne is happy in her life, and is also happy that she could revist Manzanar with her family.
manzanar itself was hange. it changed there family it changed there life it changed papa. it changed jeanne. not all of them were for the better. papa lost his amotions beside anger and made him more sivle minded. the children became roudy and rebelious. the family aws close to seperation but it held together. otherr parts of the camp changed them for the better like jeanne's new earge to change herself and find more than what is in her family. so when jeanne and other of papas children start to look outside of the family and papa is crushed. in this way when jeanne changes and becomes her new self(when her life starts)papa becomes a hopless reck (his life ends).
This quotes represents many important themes including, separation/difference,death/rebirth, and difference.
It shows separation because it shows how Jeanne and her dad held very separate lives. Papa "died" in Manzanar, while Jeanne is born in Manzanar. This also shows separation/difference because of their different views. Jeanne tried to disconnect from the Americans at the beginning of the book but by the end she is trying to be more like an American, while Papa tries to be an American at the beginning, but by the end he feels betrayed by them and he wants to be more Japanese.
Then this quote also shows death and rebirth, because it shows as one person or thing "dies" another is born. Even though Papa doesn't literally die in Manzanar, he metaphorically dies. He dies because he loses his connection to himself and what he believes in. When a person loses their personal rights and the way they want to live, they "die" which is what happens to Papa. While, when a person realizes what they want and how the world functions, they are born. This is what happens to Jeanne.
Finally, this quote shows difference. It shows how so many people had different reactions to certain experiences. It shows that every person is unique. This quote shows difference, because Jeanne and Papa have completely different outlooks on Manzanar, and Manzanar changes them in tow completely different ways.
I agree with emmett. I think that what Jeanne is saying is that a part of papa died. I think that that part was a lively part. If you think about it, if someone changes a lot then it has to do with a big part of them died or something that they do all the time they stopped doing. I think that it is also very interesting that she admits that her life begins in Manzanar. It seems like thats the first place where she doesn't do the same thing everyday. Back where she lived she would just wait for the men to come back from the fishing trips or she would be at school. At Manzanar she did different things everyday. Sometimes she would go to church, sometimes she would dance and sometimes she would help her mom.
Part of the dad died in Manzanar when he left, meaning he turned into a totally different person.
I belive that Jeannes' life began at Manzanar because that is the place where her eyes really opened to the world around her. I belive that Papa's life ended there becasue that is where his spirit broke, though he tried to be his old self again. He never was the same after Manzanar. He almost just gave up a little bit of himself, and didn't get much joy out of life. He himself said that he was too old to start a new life. They both changed at Manzanar, papa for the worse, but Jeanne ( i believe) for the better. She was reborn into a new, changed person, wheras he just lost himself and his happiness.
I also belive that until Jeanne returned to Manzanar with her family, she never wanted to admit to herself that her father "died" there. She wanted to think that he was still the same old father, but he wasn't. When she returned to Manzanar she came to terms with this and accepted it, so she was able to let go of, or say farewell to losing her father and of course leaving manzanar. She could never live with thi sthings until she confronted them again.
I think that Papa's life ended in Manzanar in the sense that he had no "real" control over his life anymore. He had no buisness to run, activites to look foward too; his life, everything that he had worked so hard to build was gone. During Papa's time at Manzanar his life started to crumble right in front of his eys. He became an alcholic, and lashed out at everyone becauase that was the only way he could assert his power.
"For a man raised in Japan, there was no greater disgrace. And it was the humiliation. It brought him face to face with his own vulnerability, his own powerless. He had no rights, no home, no control over his own life." (52)
But on the other hand, Manzanar sculpted the way Jeanne thought, had went about life. Many values and lessons were learned at Manzanar that she would have not learned anywhere else because of the circumstances that her and her family were living in.
For Papa Manzanar was the end of life as he knew it and tried so hard to build, but for Jeanne it was just the beggining.
When Jeanne says this, she means that her father had a better life in Manzanar. Her father drank a lot but he still had good life there. He gardened and painted. I think the father died twice in the book. His original self died when he went to Manzanar and when he left Manzanar, he died again.
Jeanne's life started at Manzanar because she started to try to find out who she really was.
Manzanar made Jeanne who she is today, and the years she spent in Manzanar was the start of her life. She was growing and learning. She was young and had the rest of her life ahead of her. Her father was old and could not start over once again. He would never gain what he had before Manzanar, while Jeanne would have so much more after leaving.
Jeannes father came back after being taken away by the FBI. When he came back he had a limp and was a different man. Through the years in Manzanar he continued to change. He started to drink and isolate himself. He started to abuse his wife. He was growing farther away from his old self, he was starting to leave. He had built a life for him and his family out of very little, all of this was destroyed when he went to Manzanar. He knew that he would never start his life over. He was nearing the end.
Jeanne was growing farther away from her father while at camp. She became much more independent and was on her own for most of the time. She made her own decisions. She chose what to do everyday. She chose to travel a long distance to go to the nuns. She decided when to eat. When Jeanne returns to Manzanar with her three children and husband, she really sees how greatly living in Manzanar effected who she is and how she thinks. It helped her grow and mature.
When Jeanne mentions her fathers death after being released from Manzanar, she speaks of his spiritual death. Inside, his heart had harden because of all the pain that he had been forced through. In a way, Manzanar morphed what used to be a strong well living man into a coward, hiding from the world and all of his problems. Maybe she means that he no longer enjoyed or cherished life after Manzanar. He was one of the many that were traumatized because the interments camps were a whole other level of discrimination for the Japanese. Although many come to America for opportunity and free will, what many people don't realize is that America can be just as bad if not worst then where they have immigrated from. Papa's life ended within the injustice and inequality that surrounded Manzanar.He had changed into someone entirely different. Someone who his family did not recognize.When Jeanne admits to herself that her life began at manzanar it shows her sense of growth and self realization. Jeanne grew up in manazanar because she was held there during her preteen and adolescence. During this crucial time in one's life, they start to concoct their own ideas and freely think about what they want and need.At Manazanar, jeanne really starts to develope into the individual that she wants to become and grow up to be. by saying that her life began there is a good sense of what life was like. manzanar had forced her to make realizations and be aware of her surroundings and people. It made her open her eyes a little wider to take in more detail about the injustice that flowed in abundance throughout the interment camp.
I totally agree with Zoya.
Papa held so much happiness and courage before Manzanar. He was almost like he was the leader of the pack. When he returned it was like all of his hope was lost. Jeanne, just took the bad situation they were in and used it too help her move on in life.
Later in life, when visiting Manzanar she realized that without all of the struggle she has gone through at Manzanar, that just made her stronger.
In the end of Chapter 22, Jeanne means that when she and her family left Manzanar after being relocated from her home for more than three years, her father basically gave up his soul there. Meaning that when her father returned from jail in Fort Lincoln he wasn't same person and turned to alcohol while not trying to bring his family back together. Later on, he gave alcohol for a while but came up against a conflict, the government had given a Loyalty Oath. You could answer either yes yes or no no, if you answered yes yes you were a follower and didn't speak your mind, ad if you said no no you were an a trader or an outsider. What could he choose his home country or his home. "When your mother and your father are having a fight, do you want them to kill each other? Or do you just want them to stop fighting?"
Jeanne also meant that her father basically used Manzanar as a crutch, meaning that he didn't have to work or worry when he and his family were given a place to live, are being fed, and are getting an education. They were getting all this while waiting to leave but he realized that when they went to the "real world" they have nothing to go back to. "Papa gave himself up to the schedule. The government had put him here, he reasoned, the government could arrange his departure. What could he lose by waiting? Outside he had no job to go back to. A California law passed in 1943 made it illegal now for Issei to hold commercial fishing licenses. And his boats and nets were gone, he knew-confiscated or stolen. Here in camp he had shelter. The women and children still with him had enough to eat. He decide to sit it out as as he could."
When Jeanne says that until this trip she realized that her life began in Manzanar, she means that her life was plain. What I mean is that she had many experiences she probably would have never had because of World War II relocating her and her family. She wouldn't been the same person not knowing how to deal with the hate from others for looking foreign.
She means that the papa she knew before died. Not literally but the papa she knew died. I think that emmett mad e a great point saying that part of him died. The part that Jeanne knew as a father. He used to be funny and layback and when he returned he was different. The family expected the same papa they knew to return as a leader and they expected everything to go back to the way it was. But when he came back they were dissapointed and discouraged with what they saw. Papa was no longer the person that he was before. He had changed and he no longer had any power. The power that he did have he used on his family because his family was the only thing that he had controll of.He yelled and took out his anger on them. He wworked up the couage to leacve Japan and toi start a new life in Americca. He worked hard in America and had children and a wife. But then he lost everythin g. It was like starting over, He was like dead.
She means that her life was just beginning compared to her father's. She never had a community that she felt comfortable with. for example in the beginning she was scared of other asians. She had to live with other asians in the camp. At home before manzanar she did not really have any friends. Manzanar helped jeanne grow.
i think that death is a great word to describe this quote. i think that the camps at farewell to manzanar was a horrible place to grow up in, for jeanne. thinking about growing up in a place of "peace" compared to the outside world of war, is terrible. somehow, if you survive this like jeanne did, you would still have that fear of violence trapped in your heart which isolates you. i think that jeanne means that his life ended when he got out of manzanar, because of the fact that he was in this place, where he was forced to go and when he was free, he died, not literally though.
when she says he is dead she means she lost him. she is trying to say he lost a part of himself. the part that he lost died. in manzanar he was happy and worry free. when he left he lost a part of him. when someone has two sides of them one side takes over. one side lives the other dies. the side that finally left manzanar was sad and thats how he lived for the rest of his life. thats what happened to papa.
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