Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - American History Farewell to Manzanar Farewell to Manzanar Beginning in March of 1942, in the midst of World War II, over 100,000 Japanese-Americans were forcefully removed from their homes and ordered to relocate to several of what the United States has euphemistically labeled “internment camps.” In Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston describes in frightening detail her family’s experience of confinement for three and a half years during the war. In efforts to cope with the mortification and dehumanization and the boredom they were facing, the Wakatsukis and other Japanese-Americans participated in a wide range of activities. The children, before a structured school system was organized, generally played sports or made trouble; some adults worked for extremely meager wages, while others refused and had hobbies, and others involved themselves in more self-destructive activities. The smaller children that were confined with their families seemed to be generally unaware of the hardships they were facing. Many enjoyed individuality and separation from their parents since they didn’t have to keep as close of an eye on the children. In the book, Jeanne notices that it was almost impossible to continue sitting her entire family at dinnertime, and this unfortunate change occurred in many other families as well. For the first year of their confinement, before there was a semi-structured school system, children did just about everything they could think of to pass the time. As anyone would expect, some were mischievous. Ray, a guy Jeanne refers to throughout the book, “would make a game out of seeing how many mess halls he would hit in one period (36)”. There weren’t many activities to chose from until schooling started. But once it started, children had an assortment of activities in which to participate. Later, Ray would go on to join a six-person football team (101) while others were involved in dance clubs, bands, other sports, Teachers also began taking children on short excursions outside the confines of the camps. Working inside the camp was an option but many people refused because of the incredibly low wages. Many adults chose to pursue hobbies that they hadn’t had the time for before their confinement. A popular pastime was gardening, and “some of the men who had been professional gardeners built a small park, with mossy nooks, ponds, waterfalls and curved wooden bridges (99).” Others, including Papa Wakatsuki painted and erected art. When the “internees” slowly began to be allowed outside of the camp, many walked along rivers and through fields and explored the territory surrounding the camp. Many adults resorted to more self-destructive activities in order to cope with their situations. Jeanne’s father flirted with alcoholism during and even after their confinement. Men were torn and distraught since they no longer controlled their lives or supported their families. Papa refused to take one of the meager jobs, and chose to “putter”. This caused problems and heated arguments were regular in the Wakatsuki part of the barracks. Many times Papa would threaten to kill his wife during a drunken rage. “He kept pursuing oblivion through drink, he kept abusing Mama, and there seemed to be no way out of it for anyone. You couldn’t even run (71).” Even after they were released from the prison-like camps he refused to work. His fishing boats were gone and he could only get embarrassingly low wage jobs. Instead, his wife worked while he worked on a housing project that would miserably fail in the next few months. For three and a half years, the Wakatsuki family and many others were confined in harsh camps with little to do. Like many non-violent prisoners feel before they are released, the Wakatsukis did not even want to leave the camp. They knew how hard it would be to enter back into society, to start over, and they seemed to just want to keep things the way they were. They had no idea what to expect. They had been living dependently and were all of sudden going to have to fend for themselves with all the odds against them. Stripped of pride and feelings of self-worth, many Japanese-Americans went back to smaller and dirtier living conditions, lower paying jobs, and families torn apart. It would take years for them to rebuild their strength and successfully move on. Bibliography: Word Count: 706
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