Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a Japanese person in America during Worl War II and the bombing of Pearl Harbor? Throughout the story of Farewell to Manzanar the audience learns what it was like to be a Japanese person during the time of World War II. The audience learns of the struggles they had to go through along with the conditions they lived in. four of the most important literary terms in this story include theme, irony, conflict, and symbolism. Theme is the message the author tries to have you get from the story. Irony is incongruity between the literal meaning and the implied meaning. Conflict is a struggle between two persons or things. Lastly symbolism is the use of an object to show something greater or a greater meaning. The story Farewell to Manzanar is a great story to teach people what it was like for the Japanese people back then, because with the use of literary terms it really opens the audience eyes of what it was really like.
In the story of Farewell to Manzanar one of the most important literary terms is theme. The theme of this story was to not judge a person on their nationality. Just because the family in the story is Japanese doesn’t mean that they were bad people. The people of the United States back then were so infuriated with Japan because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. They were so angry with Japan that every Japanese person was assumed of being a spy. They were judged for their nationality and where they were from not for who they really were. In the story the family as far as being spies as they could be. For example they were a polite, nice, and courteous family. They treated others with respect and dint judge others before getting to know them. When they were served food they didn’t like they didn’t complain to the whites but accepted it. Another example id when they saw their living headquarters. They didn’t complain about them being terrible but instead they were grateful for what they had. Even though this was the case, they family was judged for being Japanese and they were treated terribly. The story teaches us not to judge people by their nationality, but to judge people for who they truly are on the inside.
Irony is another important literary term in the story of Farewell of Manzanar. The ironic part of the story is that the family was being treated like criminals and being put into these internment camps, but in reality they are very nice and polite people and don’t deserved being treated like this. For example in the story it talks about the family’s living conditions and the terrible things they endured. They had to live terrible with a room too small for the family and with dirt everywhere for no reason at all. Another example of irony is when they are served food with things that they don’t even enjoy but don’t say anything back in fear of the whites. Everything they had to go through the story, being treated like criminals was all for nothing. They were good down to heart people but instead they were treated like criminals and put into internment camps for no reason
A third important literary term from the story is conflict. There are three different types of conflict I this story. The different types of conflicts include person versus person, person versus nature, and person versus self. An example of a person versus person conflict is the Americans versus the Japanese. The Americans hate on all of the Japanese because they believe that they are all spies which is not the case. The Americans despise the