What Do Trees Represent In When The Emperor Was Divine

Trees: Symbol of Life in When the Emperor was Divine

Trees are often depicted as a symbol for life and longevity, and Japanese culture also has people who are connected to the life that trees symbolize. When the Emperor was Divine tells the story of a Japanese-American family of a woman, son, and daughter who are put into an internment camp during WWII, which includes the presence of a tree many times throughout. Julie Otsuka writes each individual family members’ story as they leave their former homes and adjust to new life. Throughout each of their stories, many symbols are seen and trees is one of them. Trees represent the livelihood of the family and the relation between the family and the trees throughout the story show how making the

The woman gets ready to depart from their home where there is a tree representing her home life and how it is taken away when they leave. Before the woman leaves her home with her family, “She plucked a leaf from a low-hanging branch and went back inside the house” (Otsuka 12). The woman and her family will be leaving their old home where the tree is. The tree is representing better life that the woman and her family will be leaving behind. The family has to leave because they are Japanese-Americans are considered suspicious to the government, they are forced to live worse lives in camps. The woman and her family live in the internment camps for many years and are not allowed to go back to their homes until many years afterwards. The family members become older and more tired after time spent without freedom; the trees over the years are older after many the seasons make their leaves turn. When the woman arrives home, she sees the trees: “We had left in the spring, when the magnolia trees were still in bloom, but now it was fall and the leaves on the trees were beginning to turn…” (Otsuka 106). Much time has passed

He and his family spends many years lives living in a cruel and unjust environment: the camps are overcrowded and did not give people any freedom. The family, along with many other Japanese-Americans, endure harsh treatment in the camp but would never be given any compensation when they had not done anything to deserve being taken away from their homes and old lives. During their stay, willow trees are brought and planted within the camp. The trees are grown someplace else where there is water and life, unlike the dry desert camp the boy and his family remain in. The boy sees these trees and “At the end of the day, when nobody was looking, the boy plucked a small green leaf from a tree and slipped it into his pocket” (Otsuka 85). Aside from the people suffering within the camp, the trees are the only sign of life in the otherwise barren desert. The tree is a representation of a better life that has been taken away from his family and other Japanese-Americans. His plucked leaf from the tree must represent his wish for a better life. Over the winter the trees that are planted for them die and they no longer have the trees to enjoy. The boy shamefully thinks back to picking the leaf. Although the death of the trees are not in his control, “Secretly, the boy blamed himself. ‘I shouldn’t have plucked that leaf…’”