Julie Otsuka's The Emperor Was Devine

The Emperor Was Devine is a novel by Julie Otsuka. The novel tells the agony that a Japanese family went through during World War II at the internment camps. Through the story, Otsuka aims to show the disbelief, despair, humiliation, and resignation of the people settled and living in the United States and the current events despised and marginalized them. By illustrating the loss of identity of the Japanese family, the author demonstrates what may people had to go through in the internment camps. The novel brings the history of America the power oppressed the people who settled in the country. By analyzing the loss of identity of the characters in the book, the paper will derive the Japanese Americans sufferings at the time and at the same time drawing the history of America where the power used to oppress these people.
The writing style adopted by the author aims to demonstrate the nature of life of the Japanese Americans in America during the World War II. Otsuka chooses not to name the main characters but instead refers them to the father, the mother, the son, and the daughter. However, the author gives many minor characters names. In writing, naming of characters provides the author and the reader with an easier task. The readers will follow the story and the roles of the characters of a novel when the author has named them. However, the
The characters also have difficulties in using their names in the American society where they live. When the mother and the children leave the internment camp, they discover that many things have changed and are not willing to use their names because they think that their names might cause trouble for them. The children say that “We will change our name…we would never been mistaken for the enemy again.” (Otsuka