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“During the many years of being in the region the native americans developed social, economic and cultural structures which were later destroyed by the European/non native settlers in the 1800’s. ”
(Historylink.org) “Canadian Indians came down each year to join them at working for the hakujin. [...] They stayed for two months, through raspberry season, then they were gone again.”
(Guterson/Narrator 219) The quotation shows that the Indians are moving around looking for work. -
“There they erected a cross and buried a wax-sealed bottle containing a record of the Spanish claim to the Pacific Northwest. (...) As they landed, Indians rushed out of hiding, killed the sailors, and began tearing the boat apart for its metal.” (sas.wa.gov) " Its members were murdered almost immediately upon setting foot on the beach by a party of Nootka slave raiders.” (Guterson 5) Guterson uses imagery to describe the events when European settlers arrive in Puget Sound. -
“Private ownership of land occupies a central position in American law. In the nineteenth century a link emerged, [...] which declared that no “Chinaman” could ever own land in Oregon.”
(Encyclopedia.com) “The Miyamotos [...] couldn't really own land anyway. They were from Japan, both of them born there, and there was this law on the books that prevented them.”
(Etta Heine 61) Etta uses the Alien Land Laws to justify why the Miyamoto's can’t own land. This refers to law in action. -
On December 7,1941 Imperial Japan initiated surprise attacks against the United States in Honolulu Hawaii. The attacks on Pearl Harbor from Japan effectively brought the United States into World War II.
“At school, all day, there was nothing but the radio. Two thousand men had been killed. The voices that spoke were cheerless and sober and suggested a barely suppressed urgency.” (Guterson 89 PDF)
Guterson uses Alliteration to describe the aftermath of the horrific events of Pearl Harbor. -
“Poster propaganda created by factories and the military were commonplace during World War II, but after the events of Pearl Harbor propaganda was produced with "crushing" the Japanese in mind.” (storymaps.com)
“Speeches were made and food was served; a salute to the American flag and the loud singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" rounded out the evening.” ( Guterson 93 PDF) Americans use symbolism such as the “Star Spangled banner” to represent power and pride of the US. -
"From 1942 to 1945, it was the policy of the U.S. government that people of Japanese descent, including U.S. citizens, would be incarcerated in isolated camps.”
(History.com) “They'd been married at the Manzanar internment camp in a tar paper Buddhist chapel [...], cramped room in half and had given them, on their wedding night, two cots adjacent to the stove.”
(Guterson 49) Guterson uses imagery to illustrate how difficult life was at Manzanar. -
“In the Battle of Tarawa (November 20-23, 1943) [...] seizing the heavily fortified, Japanese-held island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands.” (History.com) “They could see that the navy was firing heavily--black smoke rose from the island in great billows--and this began to have a positive influence on the disposition of Third Platoon.” Guterson uses foreshadowing of the third platoon to describe the bloody battle of Tarawa. -
“Going back roughly a century, and even more so during World War II, breakups between deployed troops and their sweethearts back home [...] the “Dear John” letter.”
(Militarytimes.com) “Dear Ishmael,
These things are very difficult to say I can't think of anything more painful to me than writing this letter to you. I am now more than five hundred miles away, and everything appears to me different from what it was in San Piedro." (Hatsue 170/353) After the battle of Tarawa -
“The Battle of Okinawa (April 1, 1945-June 22, 1945) was the last major battle of World War II, and one of the bloodiest. On April 1, 1945—Easter Sunday—the Navy’s Fifth Fleet and more than 180,000 U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps troops descended”
(History.com) “It was under these circumstances that he heard about the death of Carl Heine, [...] only to die, it now appeared, in a gill-netting boat accident.”
(Guterson 26)
Guterson uses irony to describe Carls death. -
“Pearl Harbor National Memorial, a unit of the National Park Service offers visitors a place to connect with national, international, and personal histories of World War II in the Pacific…”
(Nps.gov) “In light of this, the Review points out that those of Japanese descent on this island are not responsible for the tragedy at Pearl Harbor.”
(Arthur Chambers 91) Ishmael's father is trying to convince the citizens not to hold the tragedy of the war against the japanese people.