Beginning in March of 1942, in the midst of World War II, over 100,000 Japanese-Americans were forcefully removed from their homes and ordered to relocate to several of what the United States has euphemistically labeled internment camps. In Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston describes in frightening detail her familys experience of confinement for three and a half years during the war. In efforts to cope with the mortification and dehumanization and the boredom they were facing, the Wakatsukis and other Japanese-Americans participated in a wide range of activities. The children, before a structured school system was organized, generally played sports or made trouble; some adults worked for extremely meager wages, while others refused and had hobbies, and others involved themselves in more self-destructive activities. The smaller children that were confined with their families seemed to be generally unaware of the hardships they were facing. Many enjoyed individuality and separation from their parents since they didnt have to keep as close of an eye on the children. In the book, Jeanne notices that it was almost impossible to continue sitting her entire family at dinnertime, and this unfortunate change occurred in many other families as well. For the first year of their confinement, before there was a semi-structured school system, children did just about everything they could think of to pass the time. As anyone would expect, some were mischievous. Ray, a guy Jeanne refers to throughout the book, would make a game out of seeing how many mess halls he would hit in one period (36). There werent many activities to chose from until schooling started. But once it started, children had an assortment of activities in which to participate. Later, Ray would go on to join a six-person football team (101) while others were involved in dance clubs, bands, other sports, Teachers also began taking children on short exc...
