Farewell to Manzanar PDF

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY from Farewell to Manzanar Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston BACKGROUND UNLOCK WORD During World War II, the United States fought the Axis powers, which included MEANINGS Japan. Afraid of Japanese sympathizers, and driven by racial prejudice, the The pronunciations and parts federal government ordered about 120,000 Japanese Americans to leave their of speech for each of the homes and live in facilities known as internment camps. As this excerpt opens, vocabulary words appear in the Jeanne Wakatsuki’s father arrives at Manzanar, one such internment camp, side notes. In your notebook, after his detention on false charges of having aided the enemy. write the meaning of each word. Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. Inu 1 W ith Papa back our cubicle was filled to overflowing. Woody brought in another army bunk and tick mattress, up next to Mama’s. But that was not what crowded the room. It was Papa himself, his dark, bitter, brooding presence. Once moved in, it seemed he didn’t go outside for months. He sat in there, or paced, alone a great deal of the time, and Mama had to bring his meals from the mess hall. 2 He made her bring him extra portions of rice, or cans of the syrupy fruit they served. He would save this up and concoct brews in a homemade still he kept behind the door, brews that smelled so bad from Farewell to Manzanar 769  Mama was ashamed to let in any visitors. Day after day he would sip his rice wine or his apricot brandy, sip till he was blind drunk and passed out. In the morning he would wake up groaning like the demon in a kabuki1 drama; he would vomit and then start sipping again. He terrified all of us, lurching around the tiny room, cursing in Japanese and swinging his bottles wildly. No one could pacify him. Mama got nothing but threats and abuse for her attempts to comfort him. 3 I turned eight that fall. I remember telling myself that he never went out and never associated with others because he thought he was better than they were and was angry at being forced to live so close to them for the first time in his life. I told myself they whispered about him because he brewed his own foul-smelling wine in our barracks. 4 All of this was partly true. But there were deeper, uglier reasons for his isolation. I first sensed it one night when Mama and I went to the latrine together. By this time the stalls were partitioned. Two Terminal Island2 women about Mama’s age were leaving just as we walked in. They lingered by the doorway, and from inside my stall I could hear them whispering about Papa, deliberately, just loud enough for us to hear. They kept using the word “inu.” I knew it meant “dog,” and I thought at the time they were backbiting him because he never socialized. Use base words or apply another 5 Spoken Japanese is full of disrespectful insult words that can be strategy to help you determine the much more cutting than mere vulgarity. They have to do with bad meanings of concept vocabulary. manners, or worse, breaches of faith and loyalty. Years later I learned collaborator (kuh LAB uh ray that inu also meant collaborator or informer. Members of the tuhr) n. Japanese American Citizens League were being called inu for having helped the army arrange a peaceful and orderly evacuation. Men who cooperated with camp authorities in any way could be labeled inu, as well as those genuine informers inside the camp who relayed information to the War Department and to the FBI. 6 For the women in the late-night latrine Papa was an inu because he had been released from Fort Lincoln earlier than most of the Issei3 men, many of whom had to remain up there separated from their families throughout the war. After investigating his record, the Justice Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. Department found no reason to detain him any longer. But the rumor was that, as an interpreter, he had access to information from fellow Isseis that he later used to buy his release. 7 This whispered charge, added to the shame of everything that had happened to him, was simply more than he could bear. He did not yet have the strength to resist it. He exiled himself, like a leper,4 and he drank. *** 1. kabuki (kuh BOO kee) n. stylized form of classical Japanese theater. 2. Terminal Island Japanese American community in Los Angeles that was entirely destroyed after the inhabitants were interned. 3. Issei (EE say) first-generation Japanese Americans, who have emigrated from Japan. 4. like a leper Historically, individuals with the disease leprosy were isolated from society, out of fear of contagion. 770 UNIT 5 THE THREAT OF “THE OTHER”  Yes Yes No No 27. Are you willing to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered? (yes) (no) 28. Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government, power, or organization? (yes) (no) —from the War Relocation Authority Application for Leave Clearance, 1943 8 Later in December the administration gave each family a Christmas tree hauled in from the Sierras. A new director had been appointed and this was his gesture of apology for all the difficulties that had led up to the riot, a promise of better treatment and better times to come. 9 It was an honest gesture, but it wasn’t much of a Christmas that year. The presents were makeshift, the wind was roaring, Papa was drunk. Better times were a long way off, and the difficulties, it seemed, had just begun. Early in February the government’s Loyalty Oath appeared. Everyone seventeen and over was required to fill it out. This soon became the most divisive issue of all. It cut deeper than the riot, because no one could avoid it. Not even Papa. After five months of self-imposed isolation, this debate was what finally forced him out of the barracks and into circulation again. 10 At the time, I was too young to understand the problem. I only Use base words or apply another knew there was no peace in our cubicle for weeks. Block organizers strategy to help you determine the would come to talk to Papa and my brothers. They would huddle meanings of concept vocabulary. over the table awhile, muttering like conspirators, sipping tea or one conspirators (kuhn SPIHR uh Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. of his concoctions. Their voices gradually would rise to shouts and tuhrz) n. threats. Mama would try to calm the men down. Papa would tell her to shut up, then Granny would interrupt and order him to quit disgracing Mama all the time. Once he just shoved Granny across the room, up against the far wall and back into her chair, and where she sat sniffling while the arguments went on. 11 If the organizers weren’t there, Papa would argue with Woody. Or rather, Woody would listen to Papa lecture him on true loyalty, pacing from bunk to bunk, waving his cane. 12 “Listen to me, Woodrow. When a soldier goes into war he must go believing he is never coming back. This is why the Japanese are such courageous warriors. They are prepared to die. They expect nothing else. But to do that, you must believe in what you’re fighting for. If you do not believe, you will not be willing to die. If you are not willing to die, you won’t fight well. And if you don’t fight well you will probably be killed from Farewell to Manzanar 771  stupidly, for the wrong reason, and unheroically. So tell me, how can you think of going off to fight?” 13 Woody always answered softly, respectfully, with a boyish and submissive smile. 14 “I will fight well, Papa.” 15 “In this war? How is it possible?” 16 “I am an American citizen. America is at war.” 17 “But look where they have put us!” 18 “The more of us who go into the army, the sooner the war will be over, the sooner you and Mama will be out of here.” 19 “Do you think I would risk losing a son for that?” 20 “You want me to answer no no, Papa?” 21 “Do you think that is what I’m telling you? Of course you cannot answer no no. If you say no no; you will be shipped back to Japan with all those other bakatare!” 22 “But if I answer yes yes I will be drafted anyway, no matter how I feel about it. That is why they are giving us the oath to sign.” 23 “No! That is not true! They are looking for volunteers. And only a fool would volunteer.” 24 Papa stared hard at Woody, making this a challenge. Woody shrugged, still smiling his boyish smile, and did not argue. He knew that when the time came he would join the army, and he knew it was pointless to begin the argument again. It was a circle. His duty as a son was to sit and listen to Papa thrash his way around it and around it and around it. 25 A circle, or you might have called it a corral, like Manzanar itself, with no exit save via three narrow gates. The first led into the infantry, the second back across the Pacific. The third, called relocation, was just opening up: Interned citizens who could find a job and a sponsor somewhere inland, away from the west coast, were beginning to trickle out of camp. But the program was bogged down in paperwork. It was taking months to process applications and security clearances. A loyalty statement required of everyone, it was hoped, might save some time and a lot of red tape. This, Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. together with the search for “loyal” soldiers, had given rise to the ill- fated “oath.” 26 Two weeks before the December Riot, JACL5 leaders met in Salt Lake City and passed a resolution pledging Nisei 6 to volunteer out of the camps for military service. In January the government announced its plan to form an all-Nisei combat regiment. While recruiting for this unit and speeding up the relocation program, the government figured it could simultaneously weed out the “disloyal” and thus get a clearer idea of exactly how many agents and Japanese sympathizers it actually had to deal with. This part of it would have been comical if 5. JACL Japanese American Citizens League. 6. Nisei (NEE say) second-generation Japanese Americans, who were born in the United States. 772 UNIT 5 THE THREAT OF “THE OTHER”  the results were not so grotesque. No self-respecting espionage agent Use base words or apply another strategy to help you determine the would willingly admit he was disloyal. Yet the very idea of the oath meanings of concept vocabulary. itself—appearing at the end of that first chaotic year—became the espionage (EHS pee uh nozh) n. final goad that prodded many once-loyal citizens to turn militantly anti-American. 27 From the beginning Papa knew his own answer would be yes yes. He agreed with Woody on this much, even though it meant swearing allegiance to the government that had sent him to Fort Lincoln and denying his connections with the one country in the world where he might still have the rights of a citizen. The alternative was worse. If he said no no, he could be sent to Tule Lake camp in northern California where all the “disloyal” were to be assembled for what most people believed would be eventual repatriation to Japan. Papa had no reason to return to Japan. He was too old to start over. He believed America would win the war, and he knew, even after all he’d endured, that if he had a future it still lay in this country. What’s more, a move to Tule Lake could mean a further splitting up of our family. 28 This was a hard choice to make, and even harder to hold to. Anti- American feeling in camp ran stronger than ever. Pro-Japan forces were trying to organize a no no vote by blocks, in massive resistance. Others wanted to boycott the oath altogether in a show of noncooperation or through the mistaken fear that anyone who accepted the form would be shipped out of camp: the no nos back to Japan, the yes yess into an American society full of wartime hostility and racial hate. 29 A meeting to debate the matter was called in our mess hall. Papa knew that merely showing his face would draw stares and muttered comments. yes yes was just what they expected of an inu. But he had to speak his mind before the no no contingent carried the block. Saying no no as an individual was one thing, bullying the entire camp into it was quite another. At the very least he didn’t want to be sucked into such a decision without having his own opinion heard. Woody wanted to go with him, but Papa said it was a meeting for Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. 30 “heads of households” only and he insisted on going alone. From the time he heard about it he purposely drank nothing stronger than tea. He shaved and trimmed his mustache and put on a silk tie. His limp was nearly gone now, but he carried his cane and went staggering off down the narrow walkway between the barracks, punching at the packed earth in front of him. 31 About four o’clock I was playing hopscotch in the firebreak with three other girls. It was winter, the sun had already dropped behind Mount Whitney. Now a wind was rising, the kind of biting, steady wind that could bring an ocean of sand into camp at any moment with almost no warning. I was hurrying back to the barracks when I heard a great commotion inside the mess hall, men shouting wildly, as if a fire had broken out. The loudest voice was Papa’s, cursing. 32 “Eta! (trash) Eta! Bakayaro! Bakayaro!” from Farewell to Manzanar 773  33 The door of the mess hall flew open and a short, beefy man came tearing out. He jumped off the porch, running as his feet hit the ground. He didn’t get far. Papa came through the doorway right behind him, in a flying leap, bellowing like a warrior, “Yaaaaaah!” He let go of his cane as he landed on the man’s back, and they both tumbled into the dirt. The wind was rising. Half the sky was dark with a tide of sand pouring toward us. The dust billowed and spun as they kicked and pummeled and thrashed each other. 34 At the meeting, when Papa stood up to defend the yes yes position, murmurs of “Inu, inu” began to circulate around the mess hall. This man then jumped up at the speaker’s table and made the charge aloud. Papa went for him. Now, outside in the dirt, Papa had him by the throat and would have strangled him, but some other men pulled them apart. I had never seen him so livid, yelling and out of his head with rage. While they pinned his arms, he kicked at the sand, sending windblown bursts of it toward the knot of men dragging his ∠ Internees at opponent out of reach. Manzanar line up for lunch at a mess hall. Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. 774 UNIT 5 THE THREAT OF “THE OTHER”  35 A few moments later the sandstorm hit. The sky turned black as night. Everyone ran for cover. Two men hustled Papa to our barracks. The fighting against the wind and sand to get there calmed him down some. 36 Back inside he sat by the stove holding his teacup and didn’t speak for a long time. One cheekbone was raw where it had been mashed into the sand. Mama kept pouring him little trickles of tea. We listened to the wind howl. When the sand died down, the sky outside stayed black. The storm had knocked out the electricity all over the camp. It was a cold, lonely night, and we huddled around our oil stove while Mama and Woody and Chizu began to talk about the day. 37 A young woman came in, a friend of Chizu’s, who lived across the way. She had studied in Japan for several years. About the time I went to bed she and Papa began to sing songs in Japanese, warming their hands on either side of the stove, facing each other in its glow. After a while Papa sang the first line of the Japanese national anthem, Kimi ga yo. Woody, Chizu, and Mama knew the tune, so they hummed along while Papa and the other woman sang the words. It can be a hearty or a plaintive tune, depending on your mood. From Papa, that night, it was a deep-throated lament. Almost invisible in the stove’s small glow, tears began running down his face. 38 I had seen him cry a few times before. It only happened when he was singing or when someone else sang a song that moved him. He played the three-stringed samisen, which Kiyo and I called his “pinko-pinko.” We would laugh together when we heard him plucking it and whining out old Japanese melodies. We would hold our ears and giggle. It was always a great joke between us, except for those rare times when Papa began to weep at the lyrics. Then we would just stare quietly—as I did that night—from some hidden corner of the room. This was always mysterious and incomprehensible. 39 The national anthem, I later learned, is what he had sung every morning as a schoolboy in Japan. They still sing it there, the way American kids pledge allegiance to the flag. It is not a martial song, Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. or a victory song, the way many national anthems are. It is really a poem, whose words go back to the ninth century: Kimi ga yo wa chiyoni yachiyoni sa-za-re i-shi no i-wa-o to na-ri-te ko-ke no musu made. May thy peaceful reign last long. May it last for thousands of years, Until this tiny stone will grow Into a massive rock, and the moss Will cover it deep and thick. from Farewell to Manzanar 775  40 It is a patriotic song that can also be read as a proverb, as a personal credo for endurance. The stone can be the kingdom or it can be a man’s life. The moss is the greenery that, in time, will spring even from a rock. In Japan, before the turn of the century, outside my father’s house there stood one of those stone lanterns, with four stubby legs and a small pagoda-like roof. Each morning someone in the household would pour a bucketful of water over his lantern, and after several years a skin of living vegetation began to show on the stone. As a boy he was taught that the last line of the anthem refers to a certain type of mossy lichen with exquisitely tiny white flowers sprinkled in amongst the green. ❧ BUILD INSIGHT NOTEBOOK Comprehension Work on your own to 1. Strategy: Make Predictions (a) Describe one prediction you made answer the questions about the selection from using the photographs. (b) Were you able to in your notebook. Be confirm your prediction or did you have to correct it? sure to use text evidence to support your responses. Include your original Analysis and Discussion commentary. 2. (a) Support What evidence supports the idea that other inmates of Manzanar think Papa is an inu? (b) Make a Judgment Is this a reasonable conclusion for them to draw about Papa? Why or why not? (c) Compare and Contrast How is the assumption that Papa is an inu similar to, or different from, the U.S. government’s assumptions about EQ NOTES Japanese Americans? Go to your Essential Question Notes, and 3. (a) What reasons for fighting in the war do Papa and his son debate? record your observations (b) Make a Judgment Whose position do you find more convincing? Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. and thoughts about the Explain. excerpt from Farewell to Manzanar. 4. (a) Cause and Effect What unexpected outcome does the loyalty oath have among the internees? (b) Speculate Why would Papa have been worried about a NO NO vote by the whole block? 5. (a) Analyze Why does the tension over the loyalty oath generate a change TEKS in Papa? (b) Interpret What does the change in Papa mean? Explain. 1.A. Engage in meaningful and respectful discussion by listening actively, responding appropriately, 6. Interpret What meaning or comfort might Papa get from singing the and adjusting communication to Japanese national anthem at the end of the text? audience and purpose. 4.C. Make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, 7. Get Ready for Close Reading Choose a passage from the text that you characteristics of genre, and find especially interesting or important. You’ll discuss this passage with structures. your group during Close-Read activities. 776 UNIT 5 THE THREAT OF “THE OTHER”