Ignorant
When the woman packs her things from her house, she chooses to throw away a picture she had in her kitchen. The picture was taken from a famous painting called The Gleaners and it portrayed a group of peasants in a field, working with their heads down. The reason why the woman chose to throw away the picture was because of what it signified and because the idea it transmitted. For her, the picture portrayed just how ignorance can protect a person from pain and for her, a person who is forced to face reality, ignorance is not an option.
Desperation
The first chapter ends with the woman, sitting alone in her empty house and thinking about her sad her house was, without anything in it. Then, the woman starts laughing and then crying at the absurdity of the way things were. The image of the woman crying on the floor is important because it shows just how much the events affected the Japanese population who had no say in what will happen with their lives.
Barren land
In the second chapter, the daughter takes her time in describing the land she passes through while on the train ride. The way the landscape is described is important because it is linked with the feeling of the Japanese who were taken away from their home. The shift from a familiar, homely place, filled with vegetation and trees to a land barren and without any type of life has the purpose of highlighting the idea that the Japanese who were being deported felt alienated and maybe for the first time strangers in their own country.
Beautiful doll
In the second chapter, the girl travels by train with her mother and brother. At one point, she passes by a girl who has a beautiful doll in her arms, a doll with curly blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. The doll here represents the ideal type the Americans wanted and it also represents the type of physic the Asians wanted. The image of the doll is important because it shows just how much the Asian community was affected by the American points of view and how they were made to feel less beautiful and less worthy by those around them.
