Picture Bride

After watching the film picture bride, I was able to relate the man or Hoya husband to the theme in Takaki on page 260 second paragraph. This was one of our quiz questions talking about assimilation and if that was the true goal. The man is the movie said "We have to replant once the harvest is ready and the process starts over, it makes you miss wanting to go home" when talking to his wife about her returning to Japan. Similar to the line in Takaki, "America seems to get me more over China"(Takaki pg 260). One CRT term I connected this movie to was every group has a unique story to tell, and the was certainly the case for the bride and the people working in the plantation. One thing that I kept referring back to was how they called her "city girl"and how being from the city placed a handicap in a way on her name. She was considered week but deep down was one of the harder workers on the plantation once she was helped by Kana.

Another thing that I pulled from the movie and connected was the presentation on Japanese Americans that we had earlier before the film. One thing that really stood out to me were the amounts that were being payed to those who had different work skills. If you were unskilled you would make $8.00 a month and if you are skilled you could make up to $12.00 a month. Not to mention if you were a women you would automatically make less, seen when Hoya or the bride thinks she has earned more on her first payday when in reality the 65 cents per hour was all she was going to be payed. What also was surprising was how the Japanese were paid more for their work then the Philippinos, which started conflicts, seen when the husband had to break up a fight between men of different backgrounds. This film was varying interesting because you could see the life on a sugar farmer during this time in Hawaii and it painted a good picture about the struggles they had endured along the way.