Finished Reading "Nisei Daughter" by Monica Sone

Last spring we drove up to my Mom's house and stopped in Lone Pine on the way. I've driven by the Manzanar camp a bunch of times but finally got to stop and check it out. I highly recommend it. I picked up this book while I was there. When I stop at a town or visitor center, I like to find an older, or first person, account of what happened there. It's not always easy. This time it was hard to pick just one.

This book was wonderful. I thought it would be terribly depressing but it was not. Most of the book is about her growing up and what it was like being a Japanese child born in the United States. It's something I know nothing about, so her accounts were enlightening. I found myself worrying for her, being angry for her, and outraged that her family WASN'T outraged.



I only have one quote, and it's from the very end. I read it to the boys because I was so touched by it.

"In spite of the war and the mental tortures we went through, I think the Nisei have attained a clearer understanding of America and its way of life, and we have learned to value her more. Her ideas and ideals of democracy are based essentially on religious principles and her very existence depends on the faith and moral responsibilities of each individual. I used to think of the government as a paternal organization. When it failed me, I felt bitter and sullen. Now I know I'm just as responsible as the men in Washington for its actions. Somehow it all makes me feel much more at home in America. All in all, I think the Issei's losses during this war are greater."

She went through a lot of emotional growth and soul searching to get to this place and not all of her friends went in the same direction she did. But I believe she saw something most of us don't. The idea that we control the government is something completely foreign to most of us now. We believe it IS a paternal relationship, that they should care for us like children. I don't think that can work well for long. We all grow up sometime and want our independence. That controlling parent/dependent child relationship always ends in an explosive way. Hopefully we can find a way to some day take back our responsibility in a civil manner.