"he'd done something horribly, terribly wrong. . . . It could be anything. Something he'd done yesterday – chewing the eraser off his sister's pencil before putting it back in the pencil jar – or something he'd done a long time ago that was just now catching up
with him" [p. 57]
This quote stood out to me as it shows how the effect the internment camp has on the young boy. It is not surprising hat the young boy is blaming himself for his family being displaced. Of course he does not understand the real reason (or the supposed reason) that his family was moved to the internment camp. The boy's experience demonstrated how racism affects children. Children learn throughout their childhood that when they behave badly they are punished. So when they are punished, even if it is unfairly, children feel they are to blame. The boy is a perfect example of this as he feels guilty and is searching for the answer in something he did. The boy's experience demonstrates how this guilt and the blame children put on themselves affect their childhood and lives in general.
"We didn't want to know. . . . All we wanted to do, now that we were back in the world, was forget" [p. 133]
When the family is released from the internment camp and reunited with the father, they do not recognize him and the reunion is clearly bittersweet. The father does not want to talk about his experience and the family does not want to know about it. This quote demonstrates the family's desire and need to move on. This shows that how they, and many others who experience traumatic events, choose to move on by forgetting, or trying to forget. We've seen this through the survivors of many genocides and as this book shows- through prisoners in internment camps. When people experience traumatic experiences, people attempt to move on by forgetting, when really they need to talk about it and seek help in order to move on. We cannot forget things, especially not events such as these because our experiences impact who we are. If we ignore a major life event, we will be unsure of how this impacts us and who we are and why we act in certain ways.
I thought that the quotes you picked were really great examples of family dynamics during this difficult time. To protect your family and children some things need to be kept from them, likewise, the family and children want to protect other members by not showing their fear or disappointment. I thought your analysis matched what was going on in my head, and I agree with your interpretation.
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