When the Emperor Was Divine Julie Otsuka summary?

The novel When the Emperor Was Divine tells a story of a Japanese American family’s ordeal in internment camps during World War Two. The father is arrested by the FBI because he is suspected a spy. The mother has to take care of her two children and move to the internment camp in Utah.

When did When the Emperor Was Divine take place?

1942
Short novel centering on the forced removal and incarceration of a Japanese American family from Berkeley, California, in 1942 and their return to their home after the war.

When the Emperor Was Divine the train?

Train—Part I It is September 1942. While riding the train, the daughter locates Intermittent Lake in Nevada on her map. The train is old, slow, and worn. The mother, daughter, and son have spent the last four and a half months at the Tanforan racetrack in San Francisco, and now they are going to Utah.

What does the title When the Emperor Was Divine mean?

The title is an indirect reference to life before World War II, a time when the Japanese still believed that their emperor was descended from the gods. When the very human voice of the defeated emperor announced the Japanese surrender, the illusion of divinity was shattered forever.

What does white symbolize In When the Emperor Was Divine?

White Dog trusts the woman, his provider, so much that he offers no resistance when she kills him out of mercy. Here, White Dog represents many of the Japanese-Americans themselves, who trust the U.S. government so much that they consent to the injustice of being sent to the internment camps.

What does dust symbolize In When the Emperor was Divine?

The narrator reinforces the fact that dust symbolizes frailty and mortality when describing the son’s act to write his name in the dust and what remains after only a night: “[o]ne evening, before he went Page 4 Fredrik Jeppsson When The Emperor Was Divine EN2304 Extended meaning by symbolism Autumn 2013 3 to bed, he …

What does the rosebush represent in When the Emperor was Divine?

The rosebush in When the Emperor was Divine is a symbol in Otsuka’s narrative. It is a symbol of freedom and security. The plant had once occupied a place of prominence in the family’s front yard but is now missing. Its disappearance is a metaphor for the loss of innocence.

What does water symbolize In When the Emperor was Divine?

Beside above, what does water symbolize In When the Emperor Was Divine? Water for them symbolizes home and hope, the absence of it represents the loss of both. The title is an indirect reference to life before World War II, a time when the Japanese still believed that their emperor was descended from the gods.