When the Emperor Was Divine Book Analysis

📌Category: Books
📌Words: 657
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 01 April 2022

“Bad things happen all the time to good people who've done nothing to deserve them. Only you can choose how you handle it. Whether to press through and overcome it or succumb to self-pity.” - Melanie A. Smith. 

Julie Otsuka’s novel When the Emperor Was Divine, tells the story of one of many Japanese families affected by the war.. Otsuka’s writing places the reader into the experience of families put into incarceration camps during WWII. In my own life, there have been many times that I have been affected by certain things that have had a lasting mental toll on me. Julie Otsuka’s writing and my own experiences demonstrate how experiences can leave a mark but eventually, you will overcome them.

Julie Otsuka uses the mother and her emotions to show how people are impacted by their experiences. When taken off to camp, the mother grows into a depressive state worrying if she’ll ever see her husband again. The boy states, “most days she would not leave her room at all” (Otsuka 93). The fact that she’s unable or doesn’t want to do everyday tasks shows the mental toll the camp has had on her. This detail demonstrates how the mother was impacted by the experience of incarceration because of her depression and unwillingness to even really live anymore as well as take care of her kids.

In addition to not getting out of bed in the morning, the mother had not worked while she was away at the camps meaning that when she got back, she started struggling with money without having an income. The book states, “with this money our mother bought us each one new pair of shoes a full size too large” (Otsuka 118). The fact that she is being cheap with her money shows the struggle she’s having with it from not making money the years away from home. This detail demonstrates how the mother and the family were impacted by the experience of incarceration because of the inability to make good money or no money at all at the camps.

In conclusion, the novel shows how people are impacted by their experiences, whether mentally, physically, or even financially. In life, your experiences can take a toll on you, too. I know experiences have affected my life.

Baseball has always been my sport. From 5 years old to now it’s been pretty much the only sport I want to play. But not too long ago, that was interrupted. After having one of the best seasons ever in AA, I moved up to AAA and was excited to get this new season going. From the moment I met the new coach, I knew this wasn’t going to be a good season. He was always angered and straight-out creepy. His son on the team was a quiet kid. Small. About my height. When he ever made an error, the coach would throw bats at him, screaming, beaming at you with his piercing red, raging eyes. After that season was done, I almost quit baseball. The experience that season put me through was bad enough to just never play again. Fast forward 4-5 years or so, I’m back. I’m ready to try my best and play. I’ve learned that you can’t stop something you love even if someone puts you down about it, you get back up again. This year, this coach is now helping to coach the JV team. I’m not scared anymore. Even when experiences can deeply affect you mentally, you will one day overcome them. But you have to face it head-on.

Clearly, Otsuka and my personal narrative show how life can bite back at you even when you didn’t deserve it. In When the Emperor Was Divine we learned about the struggles of a family going through what many families had to go through from Executive Order 9066. Separation of families, people struggling with money, even mental illness caused the whole experience. Additionally, in my own experience, it does leave a mark. But it’s how you react to it and how you deal with it that matters most. In conclusion, life is full of experiences. Some good, some bad. But no matter what happens, all that matters is what you do to overcome it.

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