Letters

The correspondence between Amy and her friend Violet reveals a personal experience of the Japanese internment camps during World War II. My group read some of the first letters that Amy sent to Violet. The letters span seven months. In this time, Amy writes that they are trying to get recommendations from the reverend for her father. She is primarily at Tulare waiting to be placed in an internment camp. She writes that the situation is not very good since the lodgings are cramped and dirty. The heat is sweltering which does not help them adjust to their new lives. She is later moved to Gila, an internment camp, where she says the housing is also very bad. She explains the Sunday school situation and writes about listening in on the Child Welfare Committee which deals with delinquency in the camps. She writes that Gila is one of the better operated camps around. In the last letter we read, she says that many people are falling sick including her mother. The people say that it is because of the water, however there are also many who have not fallen ill.

These letters relate to Takaki because many families were forcefully put into internment camps against their will. Amy’s father is in prison since he is suspected for sabotage. When Amy writes about needing references for her father from the reverend, it is talking about proving that he is not a saboteur. In Takaki, the living quarters in the camps are mentioned. Just like Amy described, many of them were fairgrounds where the families would then be forced to live in the horse stalls. The conditions were dire since families had to squish into the stalls. They were given just enough to survive.

In “No-No Boy,” it is about the main character reflecting on if his choice not to join in fighting was the right choice. This relates to Amy’s letters because many men in the internment camps were given the loyalty questionnaires. Tomio was debating about if he was going to answer no to both of the tough questions, or was he going to answer yes. Many of the men in this time had to decide if they wanted to fight in the war or if they wanted to continue their opposition to their treatment. Tomio chose “no” to both questions and got to teach intelligence people instead of going into action. The letters were very cool because we were able to see a personal account of the issues that were going on during World War II.