Hezikiyah Fandrey
English 11 B
3/17/2023
A Comparison of the Themes in “Mericans” by Sandra Cisneros and “Order 9066” by Dwight Okita
The two texts I will be comparing are "In Response to Executive Order 9066: All Americans of Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers" by Dwight Okita and "Mericans" by Sandra Cisneros. The narratives of these texts all share the theme of remembering one's culture. The common theme is that your cultural identity can be replaced. In this essay, I will be proving that this common theme applies to both of them.
The reasons why they can be compared are that they are just similar narratives. For one, they have similar details. Also, their characters are similar to each other. Finally, their descriptive writing styles are similar. These are the reasons why "Mericans" and "Order 9066" can be compared.
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While she is being strict, we can use indirect characterization to figure out that she is just trying to protect her grandchildren as much as possible. In "Order 9066," the guardian archetype hints at the loss of his daughter’s Japanese culture and her acceptance of American culture. He hints at this by saying, "Where we’re going, they won’t grow." They are referring to the tomato seed packets when they say "they won't grow." The tomato seed packets are a symbol of love because the character Denise, who is the narrator’s friend, calls them "love apples." In "Mericans," it literally says, "We’re Mericans, we’re Mericans, and inside the awful grandmother
Written prompt of Citizen 13660 by Mine Okubo Summary Citizen 13660 is an illustrated picture book representing the internment of people who were of Japanese descent. More than 110,000 Japanese people were evacuated simply because of their racial background. This has been no reasonable justification as to why the order of 9066 was even made. Fear swept over the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This caused a mass spread of propaganda which degraded anyone of Japanese ancestry.
The young girl is prevented from entering the church where her grandmother has prayers. As a person from the old world, the young girl is not allowed to play with boys from the new world. On the other hand, “in response to executive order” by Dwight Okita is about Americans of Japanese origins that were supposed to report to relocation
These three literature pieces express the same theme of finding common ground through people working through their differences to coexist in unity, along with coming together through their similarities and differences towards one another.
Mary Matsuda Gruenewald tells her tale of what life was like for her family when they were sent to internment camps in her memoir “Looking like the Enemy.” The book starts when Gruenewald is sixteen years old and her family just got news that Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japan. After the bombing Gruenewald and her family life changed, they were forced to leave their home and go to internment camps meant for Japanese Americans. During the time Gruenewald was in imprisonment she dealt with the struggle for survival both physical and mental. This affected Gruenewald great that she would say to herself “Am I Japanese?
Matsuda’s memoir is based off of her and her family’s experiences in the Japanese-American internment camps. Matsuda reveals what it is like during World War II as a Japanese American, undergoing family life, emotional stress, long term effects of interment, and her patriotism and the sacrifices she had to make being in the internment camps. Everyone living in Western section of the United States; California, Oregon, of Japanese descent were moved to internment camps after the Pearl Harbor bombing including seventeen year old Mary Matsuda Gruenewald and her family. Matsuda and her family had barely any time to pack their bags to stay at the camps. Matsuda and her family faced certain challenges living in the internment camp.
While the similarities are smaller, like the considerate personalities shared between the main characters of both
"Response to Executive Order 9066" by Dwight Okita and "Mericans" by Sandra Cisneros are two thought-provoking literary works that delve into the common theme of injustice and identity. Through the use of various literary devices and techniques, both authors effectively develop this theme, albeit in distinct ways. While Okita emphasizes the emotional impact of forced relocation and its consequences on Japanese Americans during World War II, Cisneros explores the theme of cultural assimilation and its effect on the protagonist's self-identity. This essay will compare and contrast the development of the theme in each work, highlighting the specific literary devices and techniques employed by the authors.
Okita argues that despite acculturation, nationalism weighs more when deeming threats to national security. Perhaps the most recognizable clues in identifying the context of the poem are observed in the title itself, “Executive Order 9066” as well as in the dedication in which it is stated that, “All Americans of Japanese descent must report to relocation centers.” The historical context is crucial to understanding the poem, Executive Order 9066 was issued on February 14, 1942 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, three-months after the Japanese military attacked the U.S Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii. This attack inflicted fear about national security and authorized the incarceration of Japanese Americans, “nearly 70,000 [being] American citizens” (National Archives). Regardless of their status, the United States deemed their race as a great enough reason to classify them as antagonists during these turbulent times.
Citizen 13660 is a comic-like, autobiographical documentary which includes in-text and descriptive drawings depicting the lives and experiences of Japanese-Americans that were forced to relocate to camps during World War II. This was seen from the eyes of evacuee and author, Miné Okubo. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan, and many Japanese-American citizens and “aliens” of the Japanese ancestry became targets of racial hatred and distrust. Because of this, the army’s Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA) organized a protective custody, an evacuation amongst the Japanese population, particularly from the West Coast. These immigrant aliens and citizens were taken to temporary assembly centers at horsing
The author, Jeanne Wakatsuki, presents a meaningful story filled with experiences that shaped not only her life, but shaped the lives of thousands of Japanese families living in America. The book’s foreword gives us a starting point in which the reader can start to identify why the book was written. “We a told a New York writer friend about the idea. He said: ‘It’s a dead issue. These days you can hardly get people to read about a live issue.
Both novels share many similarities along in addition to many differences allowing for an
In the excerpts from “Response to executive order9066” by Dwight Okita and “Mericans” by Sandra Cisneros, I have determined that there is a common theme amongst the two. A common theme is a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work that may be stated directly or indirectly that corresponds with each other. Now in “Response to Executive Order 9066” by Dwight Okita she is responding to the executive order. The Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, authorizing the Secretary of War to prescribe certain areas as military zones, clearing the way for the deportation of Japanese Americans to internment
Written works about American Identity are a very common theme amongst writers, including poet Dwight Okita and short-story writer Sandra Cisneros. Dwight Okita is famous for her poem “In Response to Order 9066: All Americans of Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers,” in which the theme of American identity is portrayed through a 14-year-old girl. In a similar way, Sandra Cisneros’s short story is told by a young girl of Mexican heritage who prefers American culture—in sharp contrast to her deep-rooted Mexican grandmother. Although the overall theme of the two texts is “American Identity,” both Okita's poem and Cisneros's short story delve deeper and portray that cultural heritage and physical appearances do not determine what it
David Okita, the author of the poem “In Response to Executive Order 9066,” is a published playwright, poet and novelist. He describes himself as Japanese, American, gay, and Buddhist. Okita’s father was a World War II veteran and his mother was held in confinement for four years at a Japanese-American concentration camp. The World War II plays as a significant theme in the poem “In Response to Executive Order 9066”. At first glance, the poem appears to be about an American girl who has an unstable relationship with her friend Denise.
I find the two novels are alike in many different ways, from the dark force trying to take over each respective land to the great journeys of self-discovery prominently featured in both novels. From the Pevensie siblings to the Fellowship we see the characters grow from everyday school children and simple country folk to renown warriors, Kings and Queens, even heroes. Perhaps these similarities are due to the legendary friendship of the two authors, or perhaps it was their like-mindedness that drew them together to begin with. Regardless, between the two of them, they have created wonderful worlds and legends that will still be known centuries from now as true masterpieces of