Farewell to Manzanar Analysis

Kickin' it at the Beach, Family-StyleIf you're thinking, "Wow, the Wakatsukis had it made, living in Santa Monica," then yes—you're absolutely correct. Santa Monica in any decade of the twentieth...

Outside Looking InJeanne may be our girl, but she's not exactly telling her story for a lot of the book. Part of the reason might be because she's so young (about seven or eight) when she gets inte...

AutobiographyLet's see. The book is written by Jeanne (who is one of the authors) and dwells on Jeanne's feelings, thoughts, and experiences during and after World War II. And of course, it all act...

This book's an autobiography, and told almost entirely in flashback. In other words, the whole thing is just made to be reflective.But what does reflective really mean other than sounding deep and...

As in balanced, rhythmic… think classical music, Mozart-style.Here's a prime example of the Houstons' (you know, because two people wrote this book) Mozart-ish sentences: Then, as if rising from...

It's probably pretty clear to you why Manzanar is important in Farewell to Manzanar, so we're not going to dwell on that point.Farewell on the other hand is good for a small pause. Think of farewel...

"It is sobering to recall that though the Japanese relocation program, carried through at such incalculable cost in misery and tragedy, was justified on the ground that the Japanese were potentiall...

All right—we've got Jeanne as our adult narrator telling us how cool Papa is for taking them on a drunken joyride in his new car before they return to Los Angeles. But then we have the final par...

There's a reason why middle school and high school teachers love teaching this book: it's got a healthy dose of history, but it's written in a way that's easy to understand. Okay, sure there's the...

War, Panic, and ChaosJapan's just bombed Pearl Harbor, so America goes into paranoid mode. And you know what comes from paranoia—some seriously extreme (and bad) ideas. Like locking up Papa and...

How did this book even get started? Thank Jeanne's nephew, who was born in Manzanar but didn't know very much about it, so he asked his aunt to talk about it… (Source.) Everyone loves George Take...

No steaminess here, folks. Babies seem to pop out of nowhere in this book, and the narrator gets absolutely no action of any kind (she doesn't even date). In fact, no one really seems to be getting...

Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind (2.21.42)Saint Agatha, Saint Juliana, Saint Marcella (1.5.22-23)Pearl Harbor (1.1)President Roosevelt (1.2.13)American Friends Service (1.2.13; 2.19.10; 2.19.1...