Weedflower

As the US joins World War II in response to the Pearl Harbor attacks, anger and fear causes the government to act against Japanese Americans. The novel’s point of view shows that these actions were unfounded and without due process. In addition, many of the US government’s choices were later amended or made useless. Sumiko’s perspective as a young girl reveals the illogical and racist decisions of the US government and the fear and suffering they created for Japanese Americans.

When Sumiko’s family must leave their home, she sees signs in her neighbors’ windows that read “I AM AN AMERICAN” (80). This detail is a reminder that the US government ignored people’s rights as American citizens by arresting them unlawfully and detaining them in both prisons and internment camps. Solely because of their Japanese background, Sumiko’s family and others like them were taken from their homes and businesses without hope of ever rebuilding the lives they once had. Kadohata uses quotes from US politicians to further illustrate the racism that Japanese American’s faced during World War II. Sumiko thinks about words she hears on the radio from a US congressman and points out the lack of logic in his argument that Japanese Americans will sabotage the US in the war. Other statements Sumiko hears in the news before her family is evacuated also show the racism Japanese Americans encountered.

Once in the internment camps, Japanese Americans are essentially cut off from the outside world. They have no news of the war within the camps, so they have no way of knowing how long they’ll be forced to stay there. Bull and Ichiro decide to fight for the US in the war even though they don’t know who’s winning. This shows that despite being mistreated by the government, they remain loyal and want to do everything they can to make a better life and name for themselves after the war. This resilience echoes in the novel’s End Note, which states that the Japanese American combat team became one of the most decorated units in American history. Amazingly, despite racism from the government that took away everything they had, Japanese Americans remained loyal to the US, going beyond the call of duty even while their families remained imprisoned.

Kadohata includes details about the many changes the US government implemented throughout their involvement in the war. She shows from Sumiko’s young perspective how these changes were unproductive and often nullified previous policies they’d established. For example, when the camp learns of the questionnaire that asks about Japanese Americans’ loyalty to the US and willingness to serve on combat duty, Kadohata highlights Sumiko’s confusion: If a questionnaire is good enough to determine national loyalty now, why couldn’t the government have used it sooner? Had the government started with such a questionnaire, it could have avoided uprooting thousands of people and forcing them to leave their homes. This example, among others about the government’s changing decisions and policies, highlights the illogical nature of its actions toward Japanese Americans. So much suffering could have been avoided if the government had simply chosen to trust its citizens and think logically from the beginning. Instead, blinded by fear and anger, the US chose to cast blame.

Although the US can’t change their past actions toward Japanese Americans, people can learn from history. They can acknowledge that Japanese Americans were treated with racism and were denied the rights they should have had as American citizens. Although Sumiko’s story is fictional, it sheds light on atrocities that younger generations must learn so that they don’t repeat those mistakes in the future.