Farewell to Manzanar 577Clearance, which contains two questions that are
meant to determine the internee’s national loyalty.
Question 27 asks respondents if they are willing to
serve in the U.S. military, and question 28 asks if
they would not only swear allegiance to America,
but also forswear allegiance to Japan. To answer
“No No” suggests that the respondent is disloyal to
the United States and would face possible repatria-
tion to Japan as a result—a difficult fate for those
Japanese Americans who have lived all their lives in
the United States. Many internees fiercely debate
the loyalty oath and consider answering “No,” not
necessarily out of disloyalty to the United States
but out of principle. They react to the oath’s hypoc-
risy and protest the idea of pledging allegiance to
a nation that demands loyalty but is disloyal to its
own people because it condones racial discrimina-
tion, inequality, and internment. To answer “Yes
Yes” would most likely make male respondents
eligible for combat duty. Houston’s brother, Woody,
answers “Yes” and is sent to the battlefront. Woody,
along with other nisei, or Japanese Americans born
in the United States, believes that military service
is the best way to prove that Japanese Americans
can be trusted. Unfortunately, nisei soldiers would
prove their national loyalty through blood and
sacrifice. Houston notes that nisei soldiers received
the highest number of military decorations for their
valor and suffered the highest number of casualties
and deaths.
Government officials thought the oath would
help identify Japanese spies, but Manzanar intern-
ees thought it was ridiculous. A real spy, they
argued, would not truthfully answer the oath in
the first place. Nevertheless, the oath demonstrates
how nationalism can sometimes make impossible
demands on individuals such as Japanese Americans
who are asked to be loyal to a nation that rejects
them and that would accept them only if they vol-
untarily faced death on its behalf. Sadly, the deaths
of nisei soldiers did not eliminate the discrimination
that Houston and other Japanese Americans experi-
enced after the war ended. Despite being born and
raised in the United States, Houston and others in
her community continued to encounter the ways in
which racism often prevents full national unity.
Belinda Linn Rincon
StaGeS oF liFe in Farewell to Manzanar
Farewell to Manzanar describes what it was like
to grow up and grow old during the Japanese
internment and post–World War II eras. Jeanne
Wakatsuki Houston presents her childhood and
young adult years in three different phases: pre-
internment (age 7), internment (ages 7–10), and
post-internment (teen years and adulthood). After
the bombing of Pearl Harbor and before her family
was interned at Manzanar, Houston moved from
town to town in the midst of prewar hysteria. She
recalls attending different schools. In one school,
Japanese students pick on her because she can not
speak Japanese. In another school, she remembers
feeling racial hostility from her white teacher.
When the government relocates her family, Hous-
ton is too young to be insulted by the racism and
violation of her and her community’s civil rights.
In the camp, she enjoys sleeping with her mother
in the crowded shack and does not fully appreciate
the worry and fear that burden Mama. Mama finds
work to earn money and grows distant from Hous-
ton, whom she cannot supervise within the chaotic
camp. Houston seeks attention from others and
soon befriends two nuns. She nearly converts to
Catholicism before her father returns from North
Dakota. With no school and no parental supervi-
sion, Houston’s childhood is spent in exploring the
camp and meeting new people.
As she grows older in the camp, she has certain
experiences that will become important to her
personal development. For example, when Papa
is reunited with the family, she is affected by his
physical and emotional changes. His loss of control
and dignity during internment take a heavy toll;
he begins to drink and abuse Mama. In one scene,
he nearly kills her. Houston witnesses the violent
confrontation and feels the pain of her family’s
disintegration. Her carefree childhood has come
to an end.
In the later years of internment, a school is built
and life becomes somewhat normalized within the
camp as people wait for the war to end. Houston
attends school, where children join the band, put
on plays, or sing in the glee club. During this time,
Houston searches for her own hidden talents and
interests as she grows in independence. However,