Evacuation Order No. 19
by Julie Otsuka
Feature Menu
Introducing the Story
Literary Skills Focus: ThirdPerson Limited Narrator
Reading Skills Focus: Drawing
Conclusions
Writing Skills Focus: Think as a
Reader/Writer
Evacuation Order No. 19
by Julie Otsuka
How do people cope with hardships that
require enormous change?
Evacuation Order No. 19
Introducing the Story
Click on the title to start the video.
Evacuation Order No. 19
Introducing the Story
The Granger Collection, New York
The Granger Collection, New York
What if you had to pack everything you own into
one suitcase?
You don’t know where
you’re going.
You don’t know when
you’ll be back.
And you don’t really
understand why they’re
making you leave.
[End of Section]
Evacuation Order No. 19
Literary Skills Focus: Third-Person Limited Narrator
A third-person limited narrator has things in
common with both an omniscient narrator and a
first-person narrator.
First-person
narrator
Third-person
limited narrator
Omniscient
narrator
• uses I to tell
story
• uses he/she/they
to tell story
• uses he/she/they
to tell story
• narrator is a
character in story
• narrator is not a
character in story
• narrator is not a
character in story
• knows thoughts,
feelings of only
one character
• knows thoughts,
feelings of only
one character
• knows thoughts,
feelings of every
character
Evacuation Order No. 19
Literary Skills Focus: Third-Person Limited Narrator
A third-person limited narrator allows you to share
intensely in one character’s experiences.
With a sinking feeling, Frank
read the word cancelled. They
were far from home, the weather
was steadily worsening, and now
the flight was cancelled! Jessie
would not be happy: From the
corner of his eye, he caught the
grim look on her face.
But you can only guess at what the other
characters are thinking and feeling.
Evacuation Order No. 19
Literary Skills Focus: Third-Person Limited Narrator
In the story you’re about to read, you’ll follow the
experiences of one character, Mrs. Hayashi, as she
prepares her family to leave their home:
Upstairs, in the boy’s room, she unpinned the One World One
War map of the world from the wall and folded it neatly along
the crease lines. She wrapped up his stamp collection, and
the painted wooden Indian with the long headdress he had
won at the Sacramento State Fair. She pulled out his Joe
Palooka comic books from under the bed. She emptied the
drawers. Some of his clothes—the clothes he would need—
she left out for him to put into his suitcase later. She placed
his baseball glove on his pillow.
From “Evacuation Order No. 19” from When the Emperor Was Divine: A Novel by Julie Otsuka. Copyright © 2002 by Julie Otsuka, Inc. Reproduced by
permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., a division of Random House, Inc., www.randomhouse.com.
Evacuation Order No. 19
Literary Skills Focus: Third-Person Limited Narrator
The third-person limited point of view is popular
with contemporary writers.
It combines the possibilities of
the omniscient point of view
with the intense, personal
focus of the first-person point
of view.
As you read “Evacuation Order No. 19,” watch for
a shift in point of view near the end of the story.
[End of Section]
Evacuation Order No. 19
Reading Skills Focus: Drawing Conclusions
As you read the story, think about what the narrator
is not telling you.
You will have to draw conclusions
about what some of Mrs. Hayashi’s
actions mean, using
• evidence from the story
• your own knowledge
Keep reading to find out whether
your conclusions are accurate.
Evacuation Order No. 19
Reading Skills Focus: Drawing Conclusions
For example, in this passage, the narrator does
not tell you what the sign says.
She read the sign from top to bottom and then, still
squinting, she took out a pen and read the sign from
top to bottom again. The print was small and dark.
Some of it was tiny. She wrote down a few words on
the back of a bank receipt, then turned around and
went home and began to pack.
From “Evacuation Order No. 19” from When the Emperor Was Divine: A Novel by Julie Otsuka. Copyright © 2002 by Julie Otsuka, Inc.
Reproduced by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., a division of Random House, Inc., www.randomhouse.com.
What do you think the sign says?
Why does Mrs. Hayashi begin packing right away?
Evacuation Order No. 19
Reading Skills Focus: Drawing Conclusions
Into Action: Use a chart to list any detail that isn’t
clear. Write your conclusions about its meaning.
Story Details
My Conclusions
Mrs. Hayashi begins packing
right after she reads the sign.
Every store is sold out of
duffel bags.
The sign probably says that she has
to evacuate.
Other evacuees in Berkeley have
probably bought them all.
[End of Section]
Evacuation Order No. 19
Writing Skills Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer
Find It in Your Reading
As you read, notice how the writer uses repeated
sentence structures to emphasize certain ideas.
“It hung
byby
“It
hungininthe
thewindow
windowof
ofWoolworth’s.
Woolworth’s.ItIthung
hung
the entrance
entrance to
to the
the YMCA.
YMCA. It
It was
the
was nailed.
nailed.. . .”
. .”
From “Evacuation Order No. 19” from When the Emperor Was Divine: A Novel by Julie Otsuka. Copyright © 2002 by Julie Otsuka, Inc.
Reproduced by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., a division of Random House, Inc., www.randomhouse.com.
From “Evacuation Order No. 19” from When the Emperor Was Divine: A Novel by Julie Otsuka. Copyright © 2002 by Julie Otsuka, Inc. Reproduced
by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., a division of Random House, Inc., www.randomhouse.com.
In your notebook, list the repeated structures you
find.
[End of Section]
Vocabulary
Evacuation Order No. 19
Vocabulary
severed v.: cut; broke off.
rationing v. used as n.: distribution in small
amounts.
censored v.: examined for the purpose of
removing anything objectionable.
drenched v. used as adj.: soaked.
Evacuation Order No. 19
Vocabulary
Severed means cut off completely—often abruptly
and sometimes violently.
Severed has the idea of substantial or important
things being cut through, cut apart, or separated.
The lightning strike severed a
large branch from the trunk.
She severed her relationship
with her business partners
because she no longer trusted
them.
Evacuation Order No. 19
Vocabulary
If there were an accident, and one person cut his
thumb
while the other person
severed his thumb,
which person is probably
more injured?
The person whose thumb was
cut off—or severed.
Evacuation Order No. 19
Vocabulary
Rationing is usually
an official system of
distributing goods or
services that are
scarce.
When goods are rationed, each person or family
is only allowed a certain amount at a time.
Evacuation Order No. 19
Vocabulary
Why do you think a government might begin
rationing goods and services during wartime?
The Granger Collection, New York
• Supply routes might be
interrupted or destroyed.
• Goods may be needed for
soldiers.
• Fields and factories may
not have enough workers
to keep up.
Evacuation Order No. 19
Vocabulary
In wartime, uncensored
information might be helpful
to enemies.
Movies, books, and music have
been censored because of
inappropriate language or
subject matter.
The Granger Collection, New York
When information is censored, someone else is
deciding—officially or unofficially—that the
information is harmful in some way.
Evacuation Order No. 19
Vocabulary
The soldier’s letters to his family were probably
censored because he
a. wrote about the activities of other
soldiers and officers
b. described the arrival of additional
equipment and troops in the area
c. complained about the food and the
behavior of some officers
Which information would be most
helpful to an enemy?
Evacuation Order No. 19
Vocabulary
When something is drenched, it is soaking wet.
If someone turns a water
hose on you or dumps a
bucket of water over
you, your clothes and
hair would be drenched.
If you took a walk in a light, misty rain, you might
get damp, but you would not be drenched.
Evacuation Order No. 19
Vocabulary
In which situation is the person most likely to
be drenched?
A
B
C
[End of Section]
The End