The War Between Us Essay, Research Paper

The War Between Us

It must have been very traumatic for the Japanese-Canadian families to be faced with internment and then deportation. From the very beginning they must have been faced with utter confusion and must have been left with some very disturbing unanswerable questions. Such as wondering why they had to move from their homes, where they were going, what would happen to their home and possessions that they had spent all of their life establishing, and what will happen next to their family.

It must have been very confusing for them to understand what was happening and would have been entering their newly appointed town with a great fear. To go with this there is the equal fear and concern which was instilled in the families that lived in the towns where the Japanese people moved to. Those people did not know what to expect from their new neighbors and did not want them there, only agreeing with the promise of new jobs and electricity from the Canadian government. The overall fear of the townspeople was clearly symbolized when Mary Jane s mother locked her doors when she saw the Japanese move into the shack behind her own home.

From there, the relationship between the Japanese-Canadians, and the people who originally lived in the town generally improved accept for the odd few people who had trouble associating with one another such as the two teenagers who got into the fight in the street. At the same time however the were severe internal family problems that existed. There was the issue of the personal respect that the Japanese people had for themselves and family, and did not want their families working for the white people of the town, or taking charities. They also could not tolerate the way that the town people looked down on them, such as the man suggesting that Iia would learn good skills working at the new store.

Eventually most of the Japanese-Canadians settled to live in their new homes, got jobs and were taking good care of themselves. For them a dim light of hope still existed

At that point the situation deteriorated even further as the Canadian Government interfered further and took away the all that the Japanese people homed so when the war was over they would have nothing to go back too. All prospects then disintegrated for a hopeful future eventually leading to Iia s family friend to commit suicide because she suspected that her husband had died after being sent a message of death.

When the war was over hope was restored in all the Japanese-Canadians minds and maybe there was a chance that they could build a new life and try to pick up what pieces were left. At this point they had established new lives and settled down to live in there new town. However this prospect was soon shattered as well when the Canadian government intervened again and deported all of the Japanese-Canadians too Japan against all of their wishes and there life was once again uprooted.

In total all of these events were emotionally and physiologically destructive for the whole society, as their whole lives had been changed and everything that they ever worked for was gone and they no longer lived in their true homes. This would have shattered family bonds and had tragic consequences on everyone who was involved with the situation.