Google Lit Trip by P. Michael
“Weedflower,” by Cynthia Kadohata
image location: http://www.infomat.com/learning/images/2948.jpg
Location 1
At the age of twelve Sumiko and her younger brother Tak-Tak, lived with their aunt and uncle
and two cousins on a flower farm. They specialized in carnations, however Sumiko gained most
pleasure from the sight and smell of 'Stock' or 'Kusabana- weedflower.'
Sumiko is most excited at the beginning of the novel because she has been invited to a class
birthday party.
Q:What happens to Sumiko as she arrives at the party? How does this relate to what is going on
in the US, especially California, at the time?
Link: http://depts.washington.edu/depress/japanese_americans_depression.shtml
Location 2
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor there was much political chaos. President Roosevelt issued an
Executive Order to evacuate Japanese-Americans out of California.
Link:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Instructions_to_japanese.png
Sumiko's family, along with other Japanese-American families we forced to sell most of their
belongings. Uncle and Jiichan (grandfather) were taken by the FBI to a prison camp in North
Dakota.
Link:http://www.foitimes.com/internment/image1.jpg
Q:How would you feel if an order like this was posted in your neighborhood ordering your
friends to move? What was the rational for the government to take only some people to the
prison cams? Why were other Japanese-Americans relocated in other camps? Did all Americans
feel the same way about the Japanese because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor?
Link:http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/camp.html
Location 3
image location:
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/images/inline_pics/at_home_civil-japam_03.jpg
Sumiko along with her brother Tak-Tak, her aunt, her oldest cousin Ichiro and other cousin Bull
were relocated from their farm to the San Carlos Race Track. The track acted as a housing camp
during the evacuation of the Japanese-Americans form California. This was a temporary place
with very few accommodations. Sumiko did not have friends, was not going to school, and
wasn't feeling like she had much of a family with all the moving and uncertainty.
Link:http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_home_civil_rights_japanese_american.htm
Q: How much time were people given to prepare for relocation--sell their houses, businesses, and
farms, pack their belongings, and so forth? How long would it take your family to do this? Do
you think this had any relation to the fact that Sumiko didn't have any friends? What components
made up a typical relocation center? Why do you think the centers were designed to be selfcontained and self-sufficient?
Final Location (4):
Link: http://publicintelligence.net/japanese-internment-camps-war-relocation-authority-photos/
Extreme heat and Dust Storms are the first challenges Sumiko and her family faced as they were
again relocated out of California to an Internment Camp in Poston, AZ. This was one of many
internment camps in the western portion of the US-all of which had the same basic set-up and
function. This camp however, was on an Indian reservation which created yet another challenge.
It is here that Sumiko gains and loses her hopes, dreams, and values as she encounters three
people she will later considers friends.
The Internment Camp is more permanent than the last camp, it is here she wills herself to plant
seeds from a special strain of 'Weedflower' her uncle created back on the farm. Her family's need
to look to the future will change and challenge her again.
Q:Why did some members of the community cease to be loyal to the United States? How did
they show their anger at the way the government had treated them? How did others seek to
demonstrate their continued loyalty? If you were a relocated Japanese American, how do you
think you would have reacted?
Link:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Barrack_Construction.jpg/220pxBarrack_Construction.jpg
Each barrack contained four to six one-room apartments, ranging from 15 ft. by 20 ft. to 24 ft. by
20 ft. Each apartment housed a family or a group of single people. Eight people lived in the
largest apartments. How much space did each person have? Measure your classroom. How does
that compare with the sizes of the apartments?