In the book When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka, it touches on life for the Japanese, particularly Japanese-Americans and how they were treated after Pearl Harbor. Something that stuck out to me in class was the discussion of helping others , or so it perceives to be that way...
In the beginning of the book, the story focuses around a Jap-American mother preparing for her big move to the internment camps in Utah with her family. In one part, she stops into the local California hardware store, Lund's Hardware. The next part is based on interpretation.Otsuka writes on page 5, "You can pay me later. I can pay you now. "Dont worry about it. For the children." The conversation is between the owner, Joe Lundy, and the mother. What he gave to her was peices of caramel to take home to her children. Now some may think that's mean. Why is he patronizing her? Shouldn't he mention her unfortunate move as well as her husband's arrest based on his origin? Why is he pretending nothing is going on?
I think thats just it, though. While Lundy fails to address the serious matter at hand, he is capable of showing emotion, despite being 100% American. I think the reason she gives the mom the caramels is because Lundy feels bad because of the unfortunate events that are happening to her and her family. It's obvious he knows what's going on, yet to make her feel a little better, perhaps even to give the kids something to remember their idealized home life by, he gives her caramels to bring them. I do not feel it was patronizing, I feel people cope with different scenarios with different usage of emotions. Perhaps Lundy was afraid to mention the events to precede for fear of what could happen to HIM? Maybe he genuinely does not know what to say and feels terrible, another reason for being nice. I don't feel he was personally trying to hurt her. I was thinking that he was trying to make the mom feel better and more "Americanized" by trying to give her kids a gift. She shows her graciousness by on page 6: "Thank you, thank you, Joe. The words sounds wrong, almost. She wished she had said it earlier." The simple act of kindness gave her power to return the personal favor by addressing him by first name. I think that just because he did not necessarily bring up the matter to her and apologize, maybe he was trying to make light of the situation and help out. What do you think, readers?
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