Evacuation of Japanese Americans

Shadow NinjaBrandon Fiechter

00:00 / 03:50

The internal reference of H.Yamamoto’s “The Legend of Miss Sasagawara” corresponds to the external reference to Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast.

We will look at three main topics They are:

Plot
- How does the plot of the literary text correspond to the history document?
Setting
- How do the settings in the literary text correspond to the historical document?
Character
- How does the evacuation reflect the characters in the literary text correspond to the historical document?

PLOT :

How does the plot of literary text correspond to the historical document?

The literary text, The Legend of Miss Sasagawara is a tragic story narrated from the third-person point-of-view of Kiku.

If we are the correspond the plot of the literary text to the historical document, the evacuation of Japanese Americans is inserted in the:

Exposition
Falling Action
Resolution

Exposition:

- The Legend of Miss Sasagawara, Page 99

Historical Document of Japanese Internment, Page viii

Falling Action:

“The notice I had long awaited, of permission to relocate to Philadelphia to attend college, finally came, and there was a prodigious amount of packing to do, leave papers to sign, and goodbyes to say.”
- The Legend of Miss Sasagawara, Page 111.

Historical Document of Japanese Internment, Page 45

Resolution:

"“Where did she go?"

Elsie answered offhandedly. "California."

"California?" I exclaimed. "We can't go back to California. What's she doing in California?"”

- The Legend of Miss Sasagawara, Page 112

Historical Document of Japanese Internment, Page 6

SETTING:

How does the settings (internal) in the literary text correspond to the historical document (external)?

Social & Physical Setting

"I first saw her one evening after mess, as she was coming out of the women's latrine, going towards her barracks, and after I thought she was out of hearing, I imitated the young men of the Block (No. 33), and gasped, "Wow! How much does she weigh ?"

"Oh, haven't you heard ?" said my friend Elsie Kubo, knowing very well I had not. "That's Miss Sasagawara." It turned out Elsie knew all about Miss Sasagawara, who with her father was new to Block 33.

- The Legend of Miss Sasagawara, Page 99

Historical Document of Japanese Internment, Page 183

Explanation: The apartment Block 33 on page 99 corresponds to the historical document on page 183 where it described the living conditions of the evacuee.

“Sasagawara had led until now and nostalgically of the few ballets we had seen in the world outside (how faraway Los Angeles seemed!), but we ended up as we always did, agreeing that our mission in life, pushing twenty as we were, was first to finish college somewhere when and if the war ever ended and we were free again, and then to find good jobs and two nice, clean young men, preferably handsome, preferably rich, who would cherish us forever and a day.”

- The Legend of Miss Sasagawara, Page 101

“Dimly I recalled the inside of the Buddhist temple in Los Angeles, an immense, murky auditorium whose high and huge platform had held, centered in the background, a great golden shrine touched with black and white.”

- The Legend of Miss Sasagawara, Page 103

Historical Document of Japanese Internment, Page 77

Explanation: Los Angeles has been the few places where the Japanese needed to be evacuated from.

“Miss Sasagawara's father was a Buddhist minister, and the two had gotten permission to come to this Japanese evacuation camp in Arizona from one farther north, after the death there of Mrs. Sasagawara. They had come here to join the Rev. Sasagawara's brother's family, who lived in a neighboring Block, but there had been some trouble between them, and just this week the immigrant pair had gotten leave to move over to Block 33.”

- The Legend of Miss Sasagawara, Page 99

“They were occupying one end of the Block's lone empty barracks, which had not been chopped up yet into the customary four apartments. The other end had been taken over by a young couple, also newcomers to the Block, who had moved in the same day.”

- The Legend of Miss Sasagawara, Page 100

“The day they all moved in, the barracks was really dirty, all covered with dust from the dust storms and everything, so Mr. Sasaki was going to wash the whole barracks down with a hose, and he thought he'd be nice and do the Sasagawaras' side first.”

- The Legend of Miss Sasagawara, Page 100

Historical Document of Japanese Internment Page 7, 151

Explanation: Japanese Evacuation Camp in Arizona (page 99,100) corresponds to the historical document on page 7 where it mentions Arizona as one of the prohibited areas from the Japanese aliens. It also corresponds to the historical document page 151 which stated that an abandoned Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Mayer, Arizona was employed as one of the assembly centres for the evacuation camps.

“Sasagawara. Joe and his brother slept on two Army cots pushed together on one side of the room, while their parents had a similar arrangement on the other side.”

- The Legend of Miss Sasagawara, Page 113

Historical Document of Japanese Internment, Page 77,78

Explanation: The living condition where families stayed together in the same unit on page 113 corresponds to the historical document on page 77-78 where it was determined that the evacuation would not split family units or communities.

“I giggled and explained. Elsie and I, after hearing Menuhin on the radio, had, in a fit of madness, sent to Sears and Roebuck for beginners' violins that cost five dollars each.”

- The Legend of Miss Sasagawara, Page 109

Explanation: Menuhin is a famous violinist who is known as a World War II musician. His anime is stated in the story on page 109. Sears, Roebuck and company are also mentioned on the same page. This is considered tally with the official document that was written in 1943.

CHARACTER:

How does the evacuation reflect the characters in the literary text correspond to the historical document?

The Legend of Miss Sasagawara

There are no records about a lady named Miss Sasagawara, nor about the other characters such as Elsie, Kubo, Reverent Sasagawara, the Sasaki family, and the rest in the actual documents of the Japanese internment camps. All of them are fictional characters based on Hisaye Yamamoto’s experience in the internment camp.

Historical Document of Japanese Internment

In the historical document, there was quite a lot of American authority and recognizable historical figure mentioned.

Some of the main characters that are involved are The Commanding General, The Secretary of War and The Attorney General.

Besides that, hundred thousands of Japanese American, which was just mentioned as a whole, were evacuated from their homes to the internment camps.