Sylvia And Aki

Endurance is a key theme in the novel for Sylvia, Aki, and their families during the trials they face. Aki and Sylvia both endure racism and discrimination in general and the incarceration camps (Aki) and school segregation (Sylvia) specifically.

Aki’s family must endure the racism of wartime America, which brings to the forefront prejudice and discrimination that had been simmering under the surface even before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Aki unconsciously noticed it before, choosing to say “Mom” and “Pop” instead of okaasan and otousan (Japanese equivalents) in order to assimilate. After the attack, she becomes more conscious of anti-Japanese sentiment: Stores refuse Japanese employees and customers, racist signs are posted, and declarations distinguish Chinese people from Japanese, presumably to avoid the backlash from white people. Ultimately, Aki must endure unjust incarceration, including a complete lack of privacy (e.g., latrines), for years despite not doing anything criminal to warrant this response. The size and breadth of Poston (three camps holding Japanese Americans from all over California) and the implication that some camps were worse demonstrate that the need to endure was a large-scale issue, affecting not just the Munemitsus but the entire West Coast Japanese American population. Aki’s father and brother also undergo their specific trials of endurance: not being able to own land due to citizenship technicalities and being forcibly taken from his family out of unfounded suspicion of sedition (Aki’s father) and answering impossible, Catch-22-style questions just to leave Poston (Seiko).