Jeane Wakatsuki Biography

At age 7, Jeanne Wakatsuki was not ready for the things that would come to her. In 1942 Japanese-American citizens had to go to internment camps because Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Her family has been always been treated normally in Southern California, until the bombing. As Jeanne heard, “ a fellow from the cannery came came running down to the wharf shouting that the Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor.”(Pg. 6) This is the moment that they found out that they were going to be in a lot of trouble. At the time Jeanne did not understand anything that was happening to them. The most important and troublesome people in her life were Radine, Mama, and Papa.

Her father, which she always called Papa, was a strict parent that always wanted to keep the family in check. Papa got accused for transporting oil to submarines along the coast, after that he got thrown in jail for 10 years. When he met the family in Manzanar, he became very rude and selfish, even to Jeanne. Papa has made Jeanne grow up and know that all people are not nice. You could tell Papa was getting very mean when he said this to Mama, “I’m going to kill you this time.”(Pg. 68) Papa got very angry at Mama because he thought Mama left him at home, but did not tell the truth where they were.
Her new friend Radine was her first friend when they went out of the internment camps. Radine did not care for what she looked like, but her personality. She once said to a boy staring at Jeanne, “What are you looking at? She’s an American citizen. She’s got as much right as anybody to walk around on the street!”(pg. 161) Radine stood up for Jeanne, which no one has ever done before in the book. Jeanne finally learned that some people in this world do care for the Japanese culture. She always thought that everyone else besides Japanese-Americans did not like