Today's post is by Jackie Mercer. Jackie is a great friend to Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday. She makes sure it is shared on the Facebook page Teachers on the Move. I am deeply thankful that she takes the time to do it every week. I have a hard time remembering when I first met her. It seems like I have known her forever. She will ever be associated with all of the YA fans around Youngstown State and their wonderful English Festival that focuses on YA literature. In addition she will be presenting at the UNLV online 2020 Summit in a couple of weeks. Have you registered yet? Furthermore, Jackie had a post a just about a year ago. Check it out here.
Looking at George Takei's They Called Us Enemy By Jackie Mercer
| It was a spring morning in 1942 when four-year-old George and his brother Henry awoke to their father telling them they must get dressed and wait in the living room while he and their mother finished packing. Shortly after, armed soldiers came knocking, telling the family they must leave their home in California immediately. Their crime? Being Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. FDR’s February 19, 1942, executive order 9066 ordered all people of Japanese ancestry to be rounded up by the military and forced into internment camps for an undetermined amount of time. In the graphic novel They Called Us Enemy George Takei intricately weaves together retellings of his childhood experiences and his observations and realization looking back on those events. His shifting from the events of his childhood to experiences later in life, including present-day, allows the reader the opportunity to gain a clearer understanding of both the ways in which his experiences shaped him as a person and the realizations he has had about his own experiences reflecting back on them throughout his adulthood. |  |
Takei’s book provides readers with a unique look at an often forgotten piece of American history. Takei, as an adult, reflects back on his time as a child, so readers have not only his thoughts on his experiences as a child but also his realizations about these experiences as an adult. For example, as he reflects on his time on the train being taken away from his home and to an internment camp, Takei writes, “My bright, sharp memories are of a joyful time of games, play, and discoveries. Memory is a wily keeper of the past, usually dependable, but at times, deceptive. Childhood memories are especially slippery. Sweet and so full of joy, they can often be a misrendering of the truth. For a child, that sweetness, out of context and intensely subjective, remains forever real” (50-51). Takei spends much of the book reflecting on these vivid, fun memories of his time in the camp, but juxtaposes these happy memories with the harsh reality of his parents’ experiences during this time. He is upfront with the reader in recognizing that in some ways experiencing these events as a child has allowed him to romanticize these times, when in reality, these were probably some of the most horrific and uncertain times ever faced by his parents.
Both of Takei’s parents had had successful careers before being forcibly removed from their home. Takei notes the behavior of both parents on their initial train ride to the camps. He writes, “Mama was not going to allow anything, not even the United States government to affect her family’s well-being. I remember her obsessive concern and my father’s melancholy, but they are dusty, peripheral remembrances” (50). Obviously, as a child, Takei could not fully realize what his parents were experiencing or the ways in which they were ensuring their children’s safety and well-being, so his ability to consider these things as he writes adds a unique and important layer to the telling of the story. The reader has the privilege of not only seeing what Takei experienced as a child, but more mature readers (adults and young adults) can also gain understandings beyond a child’s view through Takei’s reflecting on his experiences as an adult. This also becomes important later as Takei, as a young adult, grapples with what he perceives as passiveness in his father’s behavior as Takei begins his work as an activist. The novel serves as not only a memoir recounting the impactful experiences of his life, but also functions as a coming of age story where the reader can see the ways in which Takei is grappling with the struggles that come with growing up, such as trying to understand his parents or feel understood by them.
Both of Takei’s parents had had successful careers before being forcibly removed from their home. Takei notes the behavior of both parents on their initial train ride to the camps. He writes, “Mama was not going to allow anything, not even the United States government to affect her family’s well-being. I remember her obsessive concern and my father’s melancholy, but they are dusty, peripheral remembrances” (50). Obviously, as a child, Takei could not fully realize what his parents were experiencing or the ways in which they were ensuring their children’s safety and well-being, so his ability to consider these things as he writes adds a unique and important layer to the telling of the story. The reader has the privilege of not only seeing what Takei experienced as a child, but more mature readers (adults and young adults) can also gain understandings beyond a child’s view through Takei’s reflecting on his experiences as an adult. This also becomes important later as Takei, as a young adult, grapples with what he perceives as passiveness in his father’s behavior as Takei begins his work as an activist. The novel serves as not only a memoir recounting the impactful experiences of his life, but also functions as a coming of age story where the reader can see the ways in which Takei is grappling with the struggles that come with growing up, such as trying to understand his parents or feel understood by them.
A particularly poignant moment in the book deals with Takei’s realization as a child of the racism he was going to face after leaving the camp. After four years of being held prisoners, Japanese Americans were freed. That freedom, however, certainly did not stop the government-approved racism that Japanese Americans were going to face. Before leaving the camp, Takei overhears adults expressing concerns about “white people welcoming us with open arms” (152). He notes, “The irony was that the barbed-wire fences that incarcerated us also protected us...if the fences were no longer there, we’d be in danger” (152). Takei quickly learned that just because laws are changed doesn’t mean people’s hearts are. Despite being haunted by those days in the camps and the difficulties that followed in his life, Takei recounts how those experiences motivated him and led him to the path of great success and ultimately his celebrity status. For the reader, it is particularly emotional to see a child as the victim of blatant racism and his lack of ability to completely grasp why someone would treat him in such a cruel manner simply because he is a Japanese American.
I would be remiss if I did not discuss how the choice of a graphic novel for this book as the format is so important to the telling of this story. I recently taught this book in an American Literature and Diversity course. I asked my students to consider how the genre impacted their understanding of and feelings about the book. Many of them noted that being able to “see” the characters, particularly the expressions on their faces, told more of a story than just the words on the page. While Takei focuses on his own experiences as a child, readers are able to see and understand the emotions of all of the characters, creating a more complete understanding of what this experience was like.
I would be remiss if I did not discuss how the choice of a graphic novel for this book as the format is so important to the telling of this story. I recently taught this book in an American Literature and Diversity course. I asked my students to consider how the genre impacted their understanding of and feelings about the book. Many of them noted that being able to “see” the characters, particularly the expressions on their faces, told more of a story than just the words on the page. While Takei focuses on his own experiences as a child, readers are able to see and understand the emotions of all of the characters, creating a more complete understanding of what this experience was like.
Geroge Takei provides us with hope people can overcome immense and senseless trauma and suffering in his book They Called Us Enemy, and I would highly recommend moving it to the top of your to-read stack.
Suggested Titles:
Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys
Internment, Samira Ahmen
March Book 1-3, John Lewis
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
Refugee, Alan Gratz
Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
Suggested Titles:
Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys
Internment, Samira Ahmen
March Book 1-3, John Lewis
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
Refugee, Alan Gratz
Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
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Until next time.
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