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Invisibility And Resisting Of Miné Okubo: Summary

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POWs and Internees: Invisibility and Resisting During World War ll there were thousands of American, Australian, and more ethnic group POWs in prison camps controlled by the Japanese. There were also many Japanese-Americans held in internment camps by America who was in fear of them sabotaging our country with secret spies throughout the country. These people were made to feel isolated and dehumanized by being placed in prison and internment camps, living in poor conditions, and even being beaten, sometimes to the death. These two people had to have perseverance, determination, and hope to overcome these awful things and live through it. However, even though Japanese-American internees and Prisoners of War (POWs) were made to feel invisible, …show more content…

One girl named Miné Okubo a Japanese-American internee during World War II, resisted being made to feel invisible in her own way so she and other internees would not be forgotten. The author writes, “Internees were not allowed to have cameras, but Miné wanted to document what was happening inside the camps. She put her artistic talent to use making sketches of daily life inside the fences” (The Life of Miné Okubo 5). This quote explains how she resisted invisibility because by drawing she was able to make sketches of the camps so she could show other people how they lived, and it kept her calm and made her think of her normal life. Miné had another way she was determined to not fall to invisibility. By using her amazing talent with art, she taught an art class in the internment camps and drew the cover for a magazine, The author explains further, “She also taught an art class to children in the camp and illustrated the front cover of Trek, a magazine created by the internees” (The life of Miné Okubo 5). Miné was determined not to feel invisible, and by teaching the art class and drawing the front cover for Trek, she was able to keep in touch with something she loves, as well as show other people, outside of the camps what life was like inside of them. Louie and POWs also resisted. One way they tried to resist was by stealing. They would steal anything they could just to survive and keep in touch with the outside world. For instance, “Eventually, he was so frantic to eat that he broke into the kitchen and stole chestnuts reserved for the guards…” (Hillenbrand 165). The guards were not giving them food and were making them feel invisible so Louie rebelled and stole food to get back at the guards and also just to survive. Internees and POWs went through a lot of hard times but they found a way to resist using stealing, documentation, and by connecting back to

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