"Mericans" and "Response to Executive Order 9066" both convey the struggles of living in america and being from a different background. Even though, they may have been born and raised in america they aren't seen as Americans. They are constantly faced with generalization and stereotypes. For example, some people are surprised when they speak English. Okita and Cisnero both faced struggles, people generalized all Mexicans and all Japanese to act in a certain way based on their appearance and background. In a "Response to Executive Order 9066," Okita uses American identity throughout his poem. The narrator is a young girl who sees herself as more of an american. However when the internment was issued it wasn't just the Japanese Americans who were accused of espionage and sabotage, it was all Japanese Americans because they feared more betrayal. The narrator grew up in america and says, "I have always felt funny using chopsticks and my favorite food is hot dogs." Hot dogs are seen as a cultural american …show more content…
She is stuck between her heritage and where she is living, America. She tells us how she isn't allowed into the church, however, she also isn't allowed to leave the front of the church. Not to mention, her grandmother is very traditional and doesn't believe in the "barbaric country with its barbaric ways." Micaela says, "cannot spend our allowance on fried cookies or Familia Burrón comic books" or "run off and have our picture taken on the wooden ponies." Although her grandmother shows a disliking to america, she has a very different view of america. Meanwhile, her brother is playing a game of war where he is fighting the Germans, which is seen as a part of american culture. A little later, a man and a woman are talking to Micaela's older brother, Junior, and they are speaking in Spanish but are soon surprised that they speak English. They assumed that they didn't speak any
The Chinese-American struggles is the most prominent theme within Fae Myenne Ng’s book, Bone. Fae displays her personal experience through a first person point of view of growing up in the United States from a very young age in the book. She takes the reader with her throughout her journey — starting from the very beginning. The main character within the book is a little girl named Leila, the protagonist, in which the story is surrounded in Chinatown, San Francisco. Growing up in this setting made it difficult for her to have a normal childhood.
Primary Source Analysis 1942, just over 2 years into World War II the nation was in turmoil, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. The purpose for this was protection but the question is how much protection was insured by Executive Order 9066. Executive Order 9066 was created out of necessity for the protection of Americans both for the Japanese descendants which could have faced much brutality from people who blamed them for their loosely connected ancestor's actions and also protect other natural born Americans who could have been harmed by some Japanese descendants who sided with the Japanese. This order created internment camps, even thought we were also at war with Germany only people of Japanese ancestry were placed in these camps. The document refers to the people who were put in these camps as “alien enemies” although they had shown no signs of being anything but loyal to the
The common theme in both of the short stories is centered around the cultural differences both girls faced due to the heirtage. Although both authours decsribed and expressed this in different ways they also share many similarities. Theirs stories help to show the many different people and cultures that America has to offer and express. The "Response to Exeuctive Order 9066" express how she feels about her American identity, whereas "Mericans" ties more into her hispanic family.
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?
During July of 1941, millions of jobs were being created, primarily in densely-populated areas, as the United States prepared to enter World War II. These densely-populated areas had large numbers of migration, specifically from African Americans, who sought to work in defense industries, but were often met with rejection and discrimination within the workplace. A. Philip Randolph, a civil rights activist and president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and other black leaders, met with Eleanor Roosevelt and members of the President’s cabinet. They demanded action from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to be taken towards eliminating racial bias in the workplace; they threatened to commence a March on Washington if an executive order was not
This paragraph from Kesaya Noda’s autobiographical essay “Growing Up Asian in America” represents the conflict that the author feels between her Japanese ethnicity, and her American nationality. The tension she describes in the opening pages of her essay is between what she looks like and is judged to be (a Japanese woman who faces racial stereotypes) versus what she feels like and understands (life as a United States citizen). This passage signals her connection to Japan; and highlights her American upbringing. At this point in the essay, Noda is unable to envision her identity as unified and she describes her identity as split by race.
African Americans on the battle front are put into segregated divisions, whereas Native Americans dealt with compliment racism or unintentional racism. Chinese Americans were concerned with being accused of being Japanese, while the Japanese Americans tried to prove they were American too. Throughout his book, Takaki demonstrates the varying levels of racism experienced, and how hard work and perseverance helped these groups prove themselves to some degree. Takaki claims, all of these minorities groups, gained some form of freedom and equality either through the military or through job opportunities and improvements.
Both Okita's and Cisneros's stories talk about the American identity and how it is much more complex than just your physical appearance or your family's heritage. Okita's poem talks about how she identifies much more with the American culture than her Japanese heritage, and it focuses on a conflict with an American girl that she has grown up with in school. Okita's classroom friend, Denise, becomes hostile and rude towards her after the passing of the executive order that targets Japanese American people. Okita writes her letter to clarify that she may be Japanese-American, but she is not the enemy and she is just like Denise. Cisneros's story focuses on how different she feels from her Mexican culture, comparing and contrasting her
In the texts, "In Response to Executive Order 9066" by Dwight Okita and "Mericans" by Sandra Cisneros, a topic of American identity and perception of identity is shared. Both texts take a brief look at the lives, characteristics, and feelings of young girls living a bicultural life. In Cisnero's story, the girl seems caught between her two different cultures, and she struggles to connect with her Mexican heritage. In Okita's poem, the girl has a clear sense of her identity and place as an American. Culture is experienced and interpreted differently by each individual and each group of people.
Throughout history, many different people of color have experienced racial discrimination and have felt culturally separated from the rest of their peers. The passages "Mericans" by Sandra Cisneros and "Response to Executive Order 9066" by Sandra Cisneros both show first hand experience of racial discrimination and tell a story to the audience to show certain situations in which they had to experience. Both passages use literary devices, such as personal anecdotes, imagery and simple diction to help develop the common theme about cultural differences and racial discrimination. An important aspect of all writing is diction.
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 ending brings the duality of the story together, when tourists see the children and think that they are cute little Mexican kids. In the American tourist's imagination, this snapshot is already a memento of an exotic, alien culture, until Micaela and another brother come up to the tourist. Junior addresses his siblings in every-day American lingo, causing the tourist to be struck with disbelief that the little dark foreign boy can speak
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.
Throughout the entire novel, the mothers and daughters face inner struggles, family conflict, and societal collision. The divergence of cultures produces tension and miscommunication, which effectively causes the collision of American morals, beliefs, and priorities with Chinese culture which
People often live their lives never really knowing how advanced our world has become. Cultural imperialism has built bridges between people and other worlds. As a result, humans have evolved to become extremely diverse and sometimes certain people can find themselves being a fusion between two or more cultures. In the short story “Mericans” a little girl, along with two brothers, find themselves to be stuck between two very different worlds and the problem is, they struggle to find a balance between the two because of their grandmother.