What Is The Theme Of When The Emperor Was Divine Barrier

Desmond D. Nelson

Mrs.Vermillion

Honors English 10

13 March 2023

Barriers: An Literary Analysis of When the Emperor was Divine and it’s Barriers

Barriers can have many purposes; they can keep things out or inside an area, they do not always have to be physical. There are, however, other types of Barriers that are targeted at Racial minorities. In When the Emperor was Divine Julie Otsuka describes the story of a Japanese-American Family during WWII, The Story is told from a Third person limited perspective. This Family encounters many of the Barriers that were present in mainstream society. In When the Emperor was Divine Julie Otsuka uses Barriers as a Motif. One Barrier she makes use of is the Fence, It is used as a barrier to the outside

While the Average American didn’t have to deal with discrimination; racial minorities had to deal with Racial stereotypes and discrimination. In When the Emperor was divine the boy believes racial stereotypes about Chinese and tries to memorize the stereotypes so he can pass off as Chinese instead of Japanese. ”For dinner, in China, they ate dogs“ (Otsuka 76). The Boy had picked up racial stereotypes about the Chinese. The ideas he has about the Chinese are highly communicated but highly inaccurate as many stereotypes are. Another example of discrimination was when Julie Otsuka described the signs on restaurants. In this quote, the young Japanese Americans are allowed to go to specific locations to find work and provide services to certain towns. However, they find themselves the victims of a wave of discrimination. “They said the signs in the windows were the same wherever they went: NO JAPS ALLOWED” (Otsuka 67). This shows the prominence of discrimination against Minorities in the setting of America. Many stores, restaurants, and places of business allowed these practices of discrimination to fester with signs similar to the ones in When the Emperor was Divine. All together these variables attributed to a long healing process after the war that the Japanese-Americans had to

Even though many Japanese Americans had no connection to the Emperor and Empire of Japan, they were still thrown in camps. In When the Emperor was Divine the Daughter's favorite song is a good example of Pre war views of the Japanese-Americans on Mainstream America compared to Post war America. “Her favorite song on the radio was “Don’t fence me in” (Otsuka 13) The song “Don’t fence me in” has lines like “Let me ride through the wide open country that I love, Don't fence me in” that relate to the Japanese americans. Most came over wanting to be free in America but were trapped in Internment camps. Unfortunately there were more than a few societal barriers after the war, uncertainty of discrimination of Japanese-Americans was at an all time high. In When the Emperor was Divine it is stated that “There were many people, she had warned us, who would not be happy to learn we had come back into town” (Otsuka 107). This shows the fear of discrimination; the mother and her children constantly had to fear who they talked to or what language they spoke. Although the Japanese-Americans were now free, they weren't truly free. Even though the Family was together at the end of the story they still had to deal with societal