Farewell to Manzanar is the memoir of Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston who experienced the hardship of being a Japanese American during and after the World War II. She especially focuses on the diverse experiences when her family was put in the Manzanar Relocation Center.
Jeanne began to establish her early journey when her father was captured in Ocean Park, near Santa Monica. She recalled that her family was the only Japanese family in the neighborhood. Unlike other Japanese, her father preferred it that way because he didn’t want to be “labeled and grouped” by anyone. Therefore, when Jeanne’s family moved to Terminal Island, where they can live among the Japanese, Jeanne was terrified because of her fear with the Oriental faces. Jeanne explained her fear …show more content…
Hence, seeing many Japanese was basically nightmares to her. Jeanne also revealed that she felt uncomfortable when the kids proudly called themselves yo-go-re, which means uncouth ones. As explained, Jeanne and her brother, Kiyo, didn’t have experience with the other Japanese before moving to Terminal Island, and thus they didn’t speak Japanese. Consequently, these kids would pick on Jeanne and Kiyo each day after school which caused them to find several ways to escape the attacks. They only lived here for two months before moving to Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, but Jeanne felt like she was living here for years. Jeanne recounted one incident happened when Jeanne’s mother wanted to sell her china. The secondhand dealer insulted her by offering fifteen dollars for all the china that was worth at least