Farewell to Manzanar

Farewell to Manzanar
by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, James D. Houston, James A. Houston

Farewell to Manzanar
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Book Summary Information

Author: James A. Houston, James D. Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
Brand: Bantam Books
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-04-29
ISBN: 0618216200
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Book Reviews of Farewell to Manzanar

Book Review: QUESTIONS I considered while reading "Farewell to Manzanar":
Summary: 5 Stars

QUESTIONS I considered while reading "Farewell to Manzanar":

The most powerful and passionate parts of "Farewell to Manzanar" are the author's descriptions of her father that show him as a vain, sometime drunk, arrogant braggart & a tyrant, but she also showed him as a man who helped others with legal problems, who could make false teeth, and who was a successful fisherman. In camp he became an alcoholic and threatened to kill his wife. Was Jeanne's father responsible for increasing the difficulty of their years at Manzanar?

If is fair to compare Jeanne's experience at Manzanar with Anne Frank's experience under the Nazis? I believe it is like comparing being scratched by a kitten to being torn apart and eaten by lions. Although the first year at Manzanar was very difficult with inadequate housing and bad food, the rest of the time at Manzanar seemed like a typical small town experience with classes for dance, religion, baton twirling, high school year books, gardens, plenty of food and considerable freedom within the camp. Yes, they were forced to go there, but they weren't starved, tortured and killed when they got there, and they were released when the war was over.

Jeanne's description of the riots during the first year at Manzanar showed that some of the Japanese interned there were pro-Japan. What else could Roosevelt have done to protect the west coast from possible sabotage from the Japanese-Americans who supported Japan?
· 12/7/41 - Pearl Harbor was bombed.
· 2/19/42 - Roosevelt's order 9066 was made 2+ months after Pearl Harbor and was used to justify the internment camps.
· 3/25/42 - Manzanar was opened 3 ½ months after Pearl Harbor.
· At the time, Japan was conquering much of Asia. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, people were frightened, things happened very quickly and perhaps mistakes were made.

Most of the Japanese-Americans in the camps were wonderful examples of people who could make lemonade out of the lemons they were given. Except for the riots during the first year, they got along, worked together to improve the camp, and focused on helping their children.

Would other groups have been as creative and hard working as the Japanese-Americans?
· They transformed old army clothing that was too large into useful stylish clothing.
· They took linoleum and made beautiful floor patterns to decorate their homes.
· The cooks competed to make the best food and get the most "customers"
· They turned the whole camp into an American small town complete with dance bands, music lessons, and everything you'd find in an American town of the same size.
· They volunteered to fight in the Army and had one of the best US Army fighting units.
· They immediately went to work to rebuild their lives after they were released and didn't spend the rest of their lives doing nothing but complaining.
· They used sayings, such as "Shikata ganai (it can't be helped), to help them cope.
· They used humor ("they'll feed us rice and log cabin syrup") and hard work ("If we're going live in this place, we better get to work!") to help them make their lives better.

Was interning 120,000 Japanese necessary? No, I don't think it was necessary, nor was it justice for the majority who were patriotic citizens. I don't know if Roosevelt based his decision on information that we don't have, but the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Japanese-Americans shortly before the end of the war.

If most of the Japanese-Americans had lived in non-coastal states like Colorado (where Japanese-American residents were not interned), I don't believe 120,000 would have been put in internment camps. There might have been smaller numbers interned, similar to the numbers of Germans and Italians who were also put in internment camps. I wish another solution could have been found to deal with the few Japanese-Americans who might have been a problem.

I admire the Japanese-Americans who coped so well when internment cause them their loss of freedom and loss of much of their wealth. They deserve their current success and respect.

Summary of Farewell to Manzanar

During World War II a community called Manzanar was hastily created in the high mountain desert country of California, east of the Sierras. Its purpose was to house thousands of Japanese American internees. One of the first families to arrive was the Wakatsukis, who were ordered to leave their fishing business in Long Beach and take with them only the belongings they could carry. For Jeanne Wakatsuki, a seven-year-old child, Manzanar became a way of life in which she struggled and adapted, observed and grew. For her father it was essentially the end of his life.

At age thirty-seven, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston recalls life at Manzanar through the eyes of the child she was. She tells of her fear, confusion, and bewilderment as well as the dignity and great resourcefulness of people in oppressive and demeaning circumstances. Written with her husband, Jeanne delivers a powerful first-person account that reveals her search for the meaning of Manzanar.

Farewell to Manzanar has become a staple of curriculum in schools and on campuses across the country. Last year the San Francisco Chronicle named it one of the twentieth century?s 100 best nonfiction books from west of the Rockies.

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