Her experience changes after the family moves to the northern part of California, where she attends a new high school. While she has one close friend in middle school, she finds herself more isolated in high school. Mama is the breadwinner, Papa is not successful in his entrepreneurial pursuits, and Jeanne struggles with her peers viewing her as a foreigner. They originally return to Southern California. Returning to life post-Manzanar is challenging for Jeanne and her family. By 1945, many have already left or have plans to leave however, Papa elects that Jeanne, Mama, and Jeanne’s younger siblings stay in the camp until it closes. With the end of the war, the government plans the camps’ closures. Jeanne’s brother Woody enlists, and many of her siblings find work on the East Coast. Mama works, and Papa becomes interested in art. Jeanne attends school and takes part in newly introduced extracurriculars, realizing that she is interested in stereotypically American activities as opposed to traditional Japanese ones. This Oath is divisive, ultimately turning many once-loyal Japanese Americans against the US.Īs the years progress, conditions in Manzanar improve, and those inside accept the camp as their new normal. While the “December Riot” is quickly dispersed, it leads to the introduction of the Loyalty Oath, which all those incarcerated must answer so the US government can assess their loyalty and willingness to enlist. The general mood of frustration leads those in Manzanar to rise up against the camp administration in December 1942. Life in Manzanar is difficult for Jeanne and her family: Papa turns to alcohol, resulting in increasingly abusive behaviors the family unit begins to disintegrate and conditions at the camp are generally poor. After almost a year, he arrives at Manzanar however, he is a changed man in both appearance and habits. For the first year, Jeanne lives with Mama and her siblings in barracks, and the family waits for Papa to be released from his detainment. However, after the US enters WWII in 1941, Papa is arrested for possible espionage, and the family is forced to move to Manzanar camp in a remote location of inland California. Prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, she lives with her mother ( Mama), father (Papa), and many siblings in Long Beach, California. Jeanne narrates her experience as a seven-year-old girl living in a concentration camp for Japanese Americans during World War II (WWII).
Content Warning: This guide discusses the US imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II it uses the phrase “concentration camp” to describe what were known at the time as “internment camps.” It also references alcohol addiction, domestic abuse, and racism/xenophobia.
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