Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment

Woody visits relatives of Papa in Ka-ke, Japan, in 1946. He learns from his great-aunt that he lost one cousin in the bombing of Hiroshima. Furthermore, he learns that Papa’s family believed that Papa had also died; in fact, his father (Woody’s grandfather) has a gravestone for his son’s “death” in 1913. Woody shares news of Papa’s life in the US with his great-aunt. He also shares sugar—a rare commodity in wartime Japan. Woody notices how bare the house is; the family was forced to sell many of their belongings over the course of the war. Despite the war’s toll, Woody’s great-aunt continues to present herself and the family with honor, serving him precious prewar sake and treating him as an honorable guest. She leads him to a room with silk sheets and he sleeps, reflecting on how well his family has treated him. Later, he wakes to her crying next to him; she explains she was the one who gave Papa the money to make the journey to the US. Overcome with emotion, he is unable to speak. It is only after his departure that Woody realizes his similarities to Papa and recognizes that he wants to learn as much as he can about his father.

Papa wants to “leave [Manzanar] in style” and chooses to purchase a sedan rather than take a bus (149). However, because the car is small and frequently breaks down, it takes longer than the bus would have to arrive at their new home in Southern California. Papa drinks alcohol for most of the trip. When the family reenters Los Angeles, they fear how the non-Japanese community will receive them, having heard stories of racist attacks against the Japanese community. Much to their surprise, there are no immediate, openly racist attacks against them, and Jeanne realizes that they had “overprepared for shows of abuse” (152).

Over time, Jeanne and her family begin to experience the reality of settling back into life outside the camps. The war caused a housing shortage, but Jeanne and her family are more fortunate than most Japanese Americans, having found a three-bedroom apartment in Cabrillo Homes. The records of the fishing boats that Papa owned before the start of WWII are gone, and he has no prospects for earning an income. Despite the negative effect this has on his mental health, he forges on with his housing collective idea, though it would ultimately prove “doomed” (154). As the primary breadwinner now, Mama takes a job at a cannery, understanding that if Papa accepted this type of work, they would lose their honor: It would mean that the family had “hit rock bottom” (155).

On her first day of sixth grade, Jeanne reads a passage aloud in her English class, and her classmate Radine is audibly surprised that Jeanne can speak English. Jeanne realizes that her fear that non-Japanese Americans would hate her was misguided: The real problem is that she is seen as a foreigner. Her classmate’s comment also causes her to feel shame and a desire “to be invisible” (158). However, this wish for invisibility is coupled with the contradictory yearning to be seen and understood.

Although Jeanne excels at school, she does so because she feels she is “allowed” to do well in academic activities (159). Outside of school, there are more barriers to gaining her peers’ acceptance. She asks Radine, whom she is now friends with, if she can join Girl Scouts. After asking her mom, Radine informs Jeanne that she is not allowed to join. Although Jeanne is hurt, she doesn’t blame Radine for this. Over time, the girls grow closer, and eventually they become baton twirlers for a band that performs for the Boy Scouts in seventh grade. Jeanne recalls her performances for the Boy Scouts; though she doesn’t realize it at the time, the boys’ and their fathers’ fascination with Asian women is “just another form of invisibility” (163).

Jeanne’s family dynamic remains as it was in Manzanar. With Mama working most of the time, Jeanne continues to lose respect for Papa. Papa disagrees with Jeanne’s more “American” interests, wanting his daughter to conform to Japanese standards of femininity. Furthermore, his housing cooperative scheme has failed. He begins to drink more and stops attending her parades. 

While Jeanne and Radine are close in middle school, their paths “diverge” in high school, as Radine is invited to more social events than Jeanne. However, Jeanne is able to continue her baton twirling and is even asked to represent the school as a band majorette. During these years, she realizes that she is scared of boys asking her on dates; she pretends to be unavailable for fear that a boy would come to her house and encounter Papa’s anger. However, she also realizes that she does not want to change herself but rather to be accepted the way that she is. Over time, she loses interest in school and almost drops out.

Papa decides to move the family from Cabrillo Homes to the Santa Clara Valley. He makes this decision after he almost dies from drinking, an event that causes him to remain sober for the rest of his life. Jeanne also uses the move as a chance to start over. At her new school, she is very popular with the boys and runs for the annual “carnival queen.” During the voting, a classmate tells her that the school administration is trying to stuff the ballot box because they are concerned about a Japanese girl winning the crown. Upon hearing this news, Jeanne tries not to get her hopes up, expecting to lose the race. However, after her classmate informs the administrators that he will expose their intervention in the election, the administrators relent and proclaim Jeanne the winner. Her father is not pleased with her coronation and insists she signs up for etiquette classes at the local Buddhist church. This turns out to be short-lived, and the teacher eventually sends her away. Unlike Papa, Mama is proud of Jeanne’s coronation and takes her shopping for a dress. During Jeanne’s coronation, she wears a conservative dress, as opposed to her classmates’ strapless gowns. As she is crowned queen, she ponders her true identity.