The Boy's Loss: Sense of Self in 'When the Emperor Was Divine' Maddie Culcasi 9th Grade

In Julie Otsuka’s novel When the Emperor was Divine, the boy’s life changed drastically due to his time in the internment camp. The boy was seven when he and his family boarded the train to their internment camp. He was a sensitive young child at the time, who always listened to his mother and showed his innocence, but upon entering the camp, this was taken away. The boy loved to play baseball and read comics as he was immersed in American culture his whole life. He loved his father and missed him immensely, so he refused to take off the oversized hat gave to him just before the father was taken to the camps, even though it was much too big for the boy. In spite of how the boy was before, due to his time in the internment camp, he experienced great deprivation and suffering resulting in the loss of his sense of self.

One of the first things taken away from the boy was his culture. Before the family was sent off to the camp, the mother initially tried to Americanize the children to diminish the possibility of being accused as being spies for Japan as much as possible. She first started with little changes such as not allowing the boy and the girl take rice balls to school but taking peanut butter and jelly sandwiches instead,...