Lucas Cai Cai 1 Mrs. O’Brien Fundamentals of Composition 20th October 2022 Literary Devices In When the Emperor Was Divine In her book When the Emperor Was Divine, Julie Otsuka explores the tension that existed between "Americans" and Asian Americans, particularly Japanese Americans, during World War II. One of the main characters Otsuka employs to depict what it was like to be Japanese in America is the son. The child's perspective is the most important and valuable since, although immature, he can express the truth about what occurred during the war as Otsuka is able to convey what transpired in a way that is straightforward but incredibly sensitive through the eyes of the child. Readers can better comprehend the struggles that Japanese Americans in America faced during the period due to his struggles, emotions, and constant effort. Additionally, Otsuka's use of literary devices, several points of view, and the fact that the novel is fiction all contribute to the reader's comprehension of Japanese Americans' plight. The author uses metaphor to visualize the scene of the kid and his family who are incarcerated at the camp and depicts aspects of the Japanese American experience, such as the prejudice and discrimination they faced. Cultural influences on the boy's sense of identity and his racial background are immediately apparent. He says, how “they all looked alike. Black hair. Slanted eyes. High cheekbones. Thick glasses. Thin lips. Bad teeth. Unknowable. Inscrutable” (Otsuka, 49). The protagonist boy, only eight years old, is well aware that his appearance affects how others see him. The youngster eventually mentions “his name in the dust across the top of the table... By morning his name was gone” (Otsuka, 64). This incident serves as a constant Cai 2 reminder that the boy is merely a face among many Japanese Americans. He makes a mark in the dirt with his unusual name, but nobody remembers it. By using dust as a metaphor, Otsuka illustrates how he and other Japanese Americans become indistinguishable from the background. The boy doesn't seem to be very concerned by the events of this chapter. It was frustrating, and he missed his dad, but he appeared to realize that this phase would not endure forever. Otsuka is able to provide a nearly objective account of the event by adopting the boy's point of view. A few examples that come to mind are how the boy's father got caught in slippers and how his friend's father was entangled in a wooden geta. When compared to slippers, "geta were even worse," he claims (Otsuka, 84). The boy assumed that If only his dad hadn't been wearing that suit, maybe everything would have been great, in his mind. Many such specifics are provided by the young boy, illuminating his story for the audience. Readers are able to understand what the young boy is saying and what Otsuka is trying to show by how he says it. Even though the boy seems unaffected by his situation, he is not completely emotionless. The way the boy thinks about his father and the letters he writes demonstrates his frailty through a combination of emotions in his words. Whenever anything happens, he remembers the day his dad was taken away from him, as he fears his dad won't be the same when he returns from deployment. The youngster dreaded the day his father returned from the war and was too exhausted to play catch with him in the backyard. He worried that his father's thinning hair might cause him to feel uncomfortable (Otsuka, 79). The prospect of returning to find everything changed is the boy's primary concern. It's the same, yet different world they return to when they arrive home. People's feelings toward them had changed, and they didn't get the warm welcome back they had hoped for. Cai 3 The mother and daughter show the Japanese American experience in a different way. As they get older, they are better able to understand what is happening to them and why. They shed new light on the situation. In addition, the letters shed light on the father's perspective, and the inclusion of the pronoun "we" in the fourth chapter provides an additional layer. When the protagonist's father returns as a damaged, hapless individual. The Father presents readers with a more brutal reality. The use of "we" is intended to evoke a sense of community and empathy in the reader. A lot of Japanese Americans felt exhausted, disoriented, and adrift after the incarceration period. Otsuka also uses fiction to help readers understand the historical event better. By making up stories, Otsuka is able to take pictures and scenes that show a certain feeling or message. For example, the parts of the book about the tortoise were some of the most powerful. Otsuka says that the boy "scratched his ID number into its shell" and that "he put a lid on the box so the tortoise couldn't get out" (60). By using words like "identification number" and describing the tortoise's situation in a matter-of-fact way, Otsuka shows that there are similarities between the tortoise and the family. Some people just see the boy, mother, and daughter as numbers, and like the tortoise, they are stuck because of something else. The scene with the tortoise helps to show how helpless and despair the Japanese Americans sometimes felt with each and every day passing by their identity erodes, fading away. By using these scenes as examples, Otsuka not only emphasizes the message she wants to send, but also sheds light to the world on how the Japanese Americans felt during this time, what they went through, and its lasting impacts Through the eyes of the boy, readers get a clear picture of how things were for Japanese Americans during this time. We get a sense of their suffering during this time from that skin Cai 4 color that can never be washed, that heritage that can never disappear. By changing the point of view and making the book a work of fiction, Otsuka manages to connect many different experiences into one through the family. Her work isn’t just a representation of what the whole population had to suffer, but also a stark reminder for us today to combat the unjust the world brings. WORK CITED: Otsuka, Julie. When the emperor was divine. Columbia University, 1999.
