Sociology: Experiences and Events of the Internment Camp - Essay Example

To begin with, Julia Otsuka’s novel seeks to portray a sequence of events that happened to a Japanese American family after they were relocated from their home in Berkeley, California, and were forced to live in an internment camp far away from home during World War II. It all started with the woman seeing a sign in a post office window. The woman returned back home and started packing all her belongings together with those of the family. The reason behind this was that Japanese-Americans had been posed as enemies and aliens by the State and were subject to being relocated to far destination camps such as the one in the Utah desert. After the woman saw the signpost, she went down to their house and scribbled down a few words which turned out to be spoons, forks, linen, clothes, bowls, cups, and plates (Otsuka 3). This might have been what she assumed she would carry or, maybe, leave. The experience here is that the family, mostly the woman in this first case scenario, faces an emotional breakdown, pressure, and fear as she has a vivid picture of how the camps look like. Otsuka describes the camp image as that of thin-walled barracks and barbed-wire fences (49). According to this imagery in the mind of the woman, it impacts how the woman is thinking and also how she is to reveal that to her children.

The woman clearly knows that they are going to relocate. For example, during the period of relocation, nine days passed after the woman saw the notice. In fact, when she was packing, out of fear, the woman did not finish packing all their belongings. In addition, she had to rekindle past calamities by having no option but to kill their dog as dogs were not allowed at the camp (9). In the same stride, the woman goes to the hardware store and makes a purchase of two rolls of tape and a ball of twine so that she could use them to finish packing their belongings (5).

At the internment camp, the family underwent a lot of challenges. The boy thinks he is seeing his father because the man that sat next to him at the camp looked like his father. Again, during one mealtime as they were in the mess hall, the boy shouts out to his father, "Papa." This is just an illusion as his mother corrects him and his sister kicks him just to shake him out of that idea (49). Back then, the mother had also warned the son to reply a “yes” to anybody who asked him whether he was Chinese. And if anyone asks, you're Chinese. The boy had nodded. "Chinese," he whispered. "I'm Chinese." "And I," said the girl, "am the Queen of Spain." "In your dreams," said the boy. "In my dreams," said the girl, "I'm the King (75).

With this change, the mother warns the son of two important facts: one is that the boy, when asked, should say that he is Chinese, and again the boy was told never to say the Emperor’s name in public as this would get him in a lot of trouble and the American government would conclude that the boy was loyal to the emperor as compared to the American government.

The novel, “Rabbit in the Moon” by Deborah & Joel Shlian also shows an individual pressed to the wall to the extent that he makes choices that make him separate from his family and the community. Dr. Cheng’s research on drugs that could prolong people’s life by 30-40 years, or longer put him and his family in danger.