The end of Nisei Daughter

February 27,2008 iwonka

After reading the last chapters of Sone’s memoir, I couldn’t believe how unfairly Japanese immigrants and their children had been treated by the U.S. government.  After Japan bombarded Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Japanese living in America became oppressed and viewed as a threat for the U.S nation.  All of them, including American citizens who had Japanese background, were stripped from their freedom and forced to live as prisoners of war in the internment camps. I think that this was horribly wrong and could have been settled in a very different way. Also, I found it very strange and controversial that the military recruiters were coming to these camps in order to find volunteers among Nisei, who were willing to join the forces of U.S army and fight in the war. They were presented with this president’s statement that read: “No loyal citizen from the United States should be denied the democratic right to exercise the responsibilities of his citizenship, regardless of his ancestry. The principle on which this country was founded and by which it has always been governed is that Americanism is a matter of the mind and the heart. Americanism is not and never was a matter of race or ancestry. Every loyal American citizen should be given the opportunity to serve this country…” (pages 198-199).  I thought that this was totally ridiculous and the first question that emerged in my mind was why those people were incarcerated in the first place? Lastly, I was very shocked and a little disappointed with the Sone’s statement at the end of the last chapter. She said that: “Now I know I’m just as responsible as the men in Washington for its actions” (page 237).  As much as I try to understand what was going through her head when she came up with this “brilliant” conclusion, I just can’t. I really don’t understand why she feels this way and wants to take the responsibility for being victimized by her own country. She was innocent like most of other Japanese people in America, who didn’t disserve to be punished for something that was beyond their control.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized

One Comment Add your own

• 1. Kristy Martin  |  February 27,2008 at 3:32 am

  You stated many important points that i feel were essential to really understanding the whole memoir of Nisei Daughter. I thought it was important to notice the language barrier between her mother and monica’s teacher. It really shows how little her mother was accustomed to the english language. Even though they had been living in America for a while now, they still had stuck to their old japanese ways, as you had said about her father and the ballet classes. Good job!

Trackback this post  |  Subscribe to comments via RSS Feed