“Farewell Of Mazanar “ by Jeanne Wakatsuki

people who are essentially their captors.

The transition of the mother from middle class villa wife to a refugee shows us the impact of the internment. There are a myriad of factors that lead to this transition surely the absence of her husband is one. With the temporary absence of the husband she is forced to become the Matriarch and take up the family duties and obligations. Another factor that causes the Mother to change is cultural, before the internment the mother was in some way sheltered in her suburban life, during her internment she is transformed into a refugee. I think there is no specific event that causes the mother to change, but one event that shows us the change in the mother or could have caused the change in the mother is the use of the latrine. Mama has been sheltered and still retains her Japanese Modesty amongst other values, when she is transformed into refugee status however she is made to use the latrine in public amongst other people Watsuki herself contends that this is what would have pained her mother the most. Such factors would have no doubt caused great stress on the emotional and mental state of the mother, this is why I think the character who shows us the worst parts of interment is the mother. It is also inspiring to see how other Japanese ladies used boxes to cover themselves in the latrine this is a symbolic act of resistance where they are saying that their freedom may be taken away but their pride cannot be taken away in the same way.

To conclude, even though it is difficult to believe that Farewell to Manzanar is set in the United States, the work remains relevant in our contemporary times as it shows us a glimpse of a xenophobic and racist legacy where a section of citizens were marginalized purely because of their ancestry. One of the characters who can show us the negative effects of the internment or a character who is transformed during the internment is that of Watsuki’s Mother, separated from her Husband and left alone with her children, the mother tries to make sense of life in the camp and tries to maintain her dignity and pride during her period of internment.