Thought Questions: Picture Bride
1. What was Hana’s life like in Japan? How had her family’s situation changed since
the death of her father? Why did she resist the traditional woman’s role that her
sisters had accepted?
2. How and why did Hana become a picture bride? What did she know about Taro
Takeda and America? How realistic were her expectations? How did she handle her
initial doubts about going through with the marriage?
3. What things were important to Taro? What was his attitude toward America and
toward his own Japanese heritage? Why had he sought an arranged marriage and
what expectations did he have?
4. What were the similarities and differences between Kiku Toda and Hana? Why did
Kiku push Hana to be “American” in the beginning? Why did she and Henry end up
moving to Livingston and what was their life like there? What did the two women
have in common at the end of the book?
5. Who was Kiyoshi Yamaka? Why was Hana attracted to him? How did Taro find out
about the situation and how was their marriage affected?
6. Why did Hana and Taro only have one child? How did Mary reconcile her American
and Japanese parts and how did she deal with being alone so much? Why did she
deliberately turn away from her parents as she got older?
7. Why did Hana begin to do housework for Mrs. Davis after she turned down her
neighbor? How did Hana help Taro save his shop and why did she have to maneuver
so carefully? Was there a downside to her success?
8. What was Hana’s plan to help the seminary student Kenji Nishima? What was Taro’s
initial response? When and how did Nishima begin to get better? What was his
relationship with Taro at the end of the book?
9. What anti-Japanese attitudes and laws impacted the Takedas’ lives before World War
II? How did they deal with the prejudice around them?
10. How did Taro and Hana at first respond to the news of Pearl Harbor? How did the
arrest of Dr. Kaneda affect them? What were the ;immediate controls placed on the
Japanese community?
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11. Why didn’t Hana and Taro escape to Nevada as rumors of “evacuation” began to
circulate? Why did they have so little time to prepare when the orders finally came?
What were the physical and emotional costs?
12. What was the quandary the Todas faced about their farm? What happened to Henry?
How did camp life affect the relationship between Kiku and her sons? Why did
Kenny and Jimmy volunteer for the Army?
13. How did Taro and Hana adjust to Tanforan? Was Topaz better or worse? Why did
Taro refuse to even consider leaving before the war ended? How did he die?
14. Was Hana a successful picture bride? How did she change over the years? By the
end of the book, what regrets did she have and what successes could she cherish?
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