Characters
How many siblings did the woman have?
"White silk gloves, white sails, white stallion, white dog" are all examples of what literary element?
Motif
Repetition
Symbolism
How did the woman dirty her white gloves?
She was burying the white dog.
What does the stain on the cash register symbolize?
Joe's guilt
How long were they in the camp?
3 years and 5 months
Who owned the hardware store?
Joe
How does Otsuka depict the internment camps?
Through vivid imagery, dialogue, symbolism, and flashbacks
Why was the father arrested at night?
The FBI wanted to keep things under wraps until the internment camps were public knowledge.
What do the wild horses in the desert symbolize?
Freedom
Where was their identification number?
On there collar
What did the boy want to be when he grew up?
A jockey
What literary element is represented with the road sign names at the camp?
Situational irony because there are no trees in the desert
When does the woman see the relocation notice?
July 1942
What did the woman burning their Japanese items represent?
Her "burning" away her identity and accepting that this is their new normal.
What did the woman lose on the train?
Pearl earring
What was the name of the lawyer?
Milt Parker
What point of view was the book mainly written in?
Third-Person Limited
How is the family's home different from when they left?
Their house is not in good condition and vandalized.
What does the motif of dust and dirt symbolize?
Dust and dirt symbolizes the harsh conditions of the camp
The family's identity being stripped away over time
What was the name of the racetrack the family stayed at while they waited to be placed into a camp?
Tanforan racetrack
What was the exact date the father was taken by the FBI?
December 7,1941
What literary element does this quote exemplify, " They said they’d been shot at. Spat on. Refused entrance to the local diner. The movie theater. The dry goods store. Life was easier, they said, on this side of the fence”(Otsuka 66).
Alienation and Isolation
What was the purpose of Confession?
For the father to give insight on the mistreatment he endured while at his internment camp.
"But we never stopped believing that somewhere out there, in some stranger's backyard, our mother;s rosebush was blossoming madly"(Otsuka 139). What does the rosebush being in someone's backyard instead of front yard symbolize?
The stranger is to ashamed that they stole it to put it in their front yard representing the government's shame for putting the Japanese-Americans in the internment camps.
What was the perspective of the last chapter and who was he/she talking too?
First person pov and he was talking to the FBI