A Theme of Loss of Identity in When the Emperor Was Divine December 1941, the United States opened hostilities with Japan and relations between the two nations reached an extremely tense situation. The profound effect of the war was that many Japanese began their hardships and suffering in the following years. All Japanese Americans, no matter who they were, adults or children, were suspected spies. The novel When the Emperor Was Divine tells the story of a Japanese American family's experience in internment camps during World War II. The father is arrested by the US government on suspicion of being a spy and the mother must take care of her two young children and move to an internment camp in Utah. After a few years, the family is released from the internment camp, returns home and waits for the father's return. However, after the father returns home thin and exhausted, the forever changed family attempts to rebuild their new existence. Julie Otsuka, the novel's author, uses this family and the unfair marginalization of Japanese Americans at the time to convey that when people are unfairly marginalized, they lose self-esteem and feel subordinate to those around them, thus leading to the loss of their identity. .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay on the loss of identity symbolism in "When the Emperor Was Divine" To begin, although marginalization leads to the loss of identity in people of any age, it is the marginalization of children in school that can manifest also their feeling of subordination and, therefore, loss of identity. In When the Emperor Was Divine, when the Japanese children return to school, they find that the school's attitude towards them has changed. Then they say: “Maybe they didn't expect us to return and had sent us away once and for all a long time ago. One day we were there and the next day, poof, our names were erased from the records, our desks and lockers, reassigned, we were gone.”(Otsuka 121). The change in the attitude of classmates and the school towards them is an obvious representation of the subordinate position and unequal marginalization of Japanese children. From the perspective of Japanese children, their classmates perhaps never expect them to return and they too have forgotten them. Even though Japanese children have encountered such difficulties in their childhood, classmates still do not show sympathy towards them because they have never really cared about Japanese children. Furthermore, when Japanese children leave school for internment, their names are erased from rosters, desks, and lockers. As the hallmark of human identity, Japanese children's names have been erased, as if they had never existed. At that particular time, both school and classmates don't want to have an intimate relationship with Japanese children to avoid trouble. Thus the Japanese isolate themselves from outside society, which also causes their loss of identity. In addition to the indifferent attitude of classmates, Japanese children also had to pay attention to their own behavior and words at school. For example: “We said yes and no and no problem. We said thank you. Don't even think about it. When our teacher asked us if everything was okay, we nodded and said: yes, of course, everything was okay.”(Otsuka 122). From what has been said it can be seen that Japanese children always find themselves in an unequal position compared to their classmates. Japanese children are subordinate and are more polite, behave respectfully and pretend to forgive others with tolerance. Japanese children's subordinate position attributes to American racism which also promotes Japanese Americans' loss of their identity. Here "obviously everything went well". it is an irony that expresses the dissatisfaction and helplessness of children. Because after returning to school everything has changed and they also can't find their position, but when the teacher asks them if everything is okay, they also can't tell the truth. Japanese children don't want to admit that they are different from their classmates, so they respond that everything is fine. There is also another example of Japanese children at school: “We did something wrong, we made sure to say sorry (sorry for looking at you, sorry for sitting here, sorry for coming back)… I've always wanted to touch yourself, I will never touch you again, I promise, I swear…” (Otsuka 123). This paragraph clearly shows the unfair treatment of Japanese children at school. No matter what Japanese children do, even who makes mistakes, Japanese children should always be more polite and apologize for what they do. Due to the loss of identity, when they seek contact with classmates they always find themselves in a subordinate position. The unfair marginalization of Japanese children by their classmates is a clear representation of their loss of identity. Similar to When the Emperor Was Divine, the story The Silence also demonstrates that the marginalization of children at school leads to their loss of identity. The story's central character, Ozawa, talks about how he was framed for a crime he didn't commit, leading the entire school to marginalize him as something he wasn't. He says: “No one in the whole school would talk to me. I went to school in silence, attended classes in silence, came home in silence. I lost my appetite, I lost weight, I couldn't sleep at night. I stood there, all agitated, with my head full of this endless succession of bad images. The unfair treatment Ozawa received from his entire school clearly affected him very strongly. Because of this he suffered both emotional and physical trauma. Due to the marginalization suffered by his classmates, he could not eat, he could not sleep, he practically lost all sense of himself, or at least of his own identity, demonstrating that when people are unfairly marginalized, they lose themselves. value and feel subordinate to those around them, thus leading to their loss of identity. Peculiarities of nameless Japanese in the novel In general, if authors want their writings to be easily understandable, they always choose to give names to the characters. But in certain texts, such as When the Emperor Was Divine, the author must want to express a special meaning through the nameless main characters. The anonymity of a character indicates the loss of one's being, and therefore the loss of identity. The novel's four central characters are all unnamed, but are instead named: the mother, the daughter, the father, and the son. Because they are Japanese Americans, they are perceived as different from true Native Americans in their habits, values, and worldviews. They live in an environment with mixed American and Japanese cultures. And the marginalization they receive also leads to their own obsession with their Japanese identity in American society. For example, when the mother and children return from the internment camp, they find that everything has changed and that their Japanese identities may.

Topic > A Theme of Loss of Identity in When the Emperor Was Divine December 1941, the United States opened hostilities with Japan and relations between the two nations reached an extremely tense situation. The profound effect of the war was that many Japanese began their hardships and suffering in the following years. All Japanese Americans, no matter who they were, adults or children, were suspected spies. The novel When the Emperor Was Divine tells the story of a Japanese American family's experience in internment camps during World War II. The father is arrested by the US government on suspicion of being a spy and the mother must take care of her two young children and move to an internment camp in Utah. After a few years, the family is released from the internment camp, returns home and waits for the father's return. However, after the father returns home thin and exhausted, the forever changed family attempts to rebuild their new existence. Julie Otsuka, the novel's author, uses this family and the unfair marginalization of Japanese Americans at the time to convey that when people are unfairly marginalized, they lose self-esteem and feel subordinate to those around them, thus leading to the loss of their identity. .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay on the loss of identity symbolism in "When the Emperor Was Divine" To begin, although marginalization leads to the loss of identity in people of any age, it is the marginalization of children in school that can manifest also their feeling of subordination and, therefore, loss of identity. In When the Emperor Was Divine, when the Japanese children return to school, they find that the school's attitude towards them has changed. Then they say: “Maybe they didn't expect us to return and had sent us away once and for all a long time ago. One day we were there and the next day, poof, our names were erased from the records, our desks and lockers, reassigned, we were gone.”(Otsuka 121). The change in the attitude of classmates and the school towards them is an obvious representation of the subordinate position and unequal marginalization of Japanese children. From the perspective of Japanese children, their classmates perhaps never expect them to return and they too have forgotten them. Even though Japanese children have encountered such difficulties in their childhood, classmates still do not show sympathy towards them because they have never really cared about Japanese children. Furthermore, when Japanese children leave school for internment, their names are erased from rosters, desks, and lockers. As the hallmark of human identity, Japanese children's names have been erased, as if they had never existed. At that particular time, both school and classmates don't want to have an intimate relationship with Japanese children to avoid trouble. Thus the Japanese isolate themselves from outside society, which also causes their loss of identity. In addition to the indifferent attitude of classmates, Japanese children also had to pay attention to their own behavior and words at school. For example: “We said yes and no and no problem. We said thank you. Don't even think about it. When our teacher asked us if everything was okay, we nodded and said: yes, of course, everything was okay.”(Otsuka 122). From what has been said it can be seen that Japanese children always find themselves in an unequal position compared to their classmates. Japanese children are subordinate and are more polite, behave respectfully and pretend to forgive others with tolerance. Japanese children's subordinate position attributes to American racism which also promotes Japanese Americans' loss of their identity. Here "obviously everything went well". it is an irony that expresses the dissatisfaction and helplessness of children. Because after returning to school everything has changed and they also can't find their position, but when the teacher asks them if everything is okay, they also can't tell the truth. Japanese children don't want to admit that they are different from their classmates, so they respond that everything is fine. There is also another example of Japanese children at school: “We did something wrong, we made sure to say sorry (sorry for looking at you, sorry for sitting here, sorry for coming back)… I've always wanted to touch yourself, I will never touch you again, I promise, I swear…” (Otsuka 123). This paragraph clearly shows the unfair treatment of Japanese children at school. No matter what Japanese children do, even who makes mistakes, Japanese children should always be more polite and apologize for what they do. Due to the loss of identity, when they seek contact with classmates they always find themselves in a subordinate position. The unfair marginalization of Japanese children by their classmates is a clear representation of their loss of identity. Similar to When the Emperor Was Divine, the story The Silence also demonstrates that the marginalization of children at school leads to their loss of identity. The story's central character, Ozawa, talks about how he was framed for a crime he didn't commit, leading the entire school to marginalize him as something he wasn't. He says: “No one in the whole school would talk to me. I went to school in silence, attended classes in silence, came home in silence. I lost my appetite, I lost weight, I couldn't sleep at night. I stood there, all agitated, with my head full of this endless succession of bad images. The unfair treatment Ozawa received from his entire school clearly affected him very strongly. Because of this he suffered both emotional and physical trauma. Due to the marginalization suffered by his classmates, he could not eat, he could not sleep, he practically lost all sense of himself, or at least of his own identity, demonstrating that when people are unfairly marginalized, they lose themselves. value and feel subordinate to those around them, thus leading to their loss of identity. Peculiarities of nameless Japanese in the novel In general, if authors want their writings to be easily understandable, they always choose to give names to the characters. But in certain texts, such as When the Emperor Was Divine, the author must want to express a special meaning through the nameless main characters. The anonymity of a character indicates the loss of one's being, and therefore the loss of identity. The novel's four central characters are all unnamed, but are instead named: the mother, the daughter, the father, and the son. Because they are Japanese Americans, they are perceived as different from true Native Americans in their habits, values, and worldviews. They live in an environment with mixed American and Japanese cultures. And the marginalization they receive also leads to their own obsession with their Japanese identity in American society. For example, when the mother and children return from the internment camp, they find that everything has changed and that their Japanese identities may.