When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka is a novel about the difficult experiences of a Japanese-American family in an internment camp during World War II. The head of the family, the father, is suspected of being a spy by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is arrested. The two children and their mother, left alone, move to an internment camp in Utah. Released after being trapped in the internment camp for three years, the family returns home and awaits their father's return. Despite their hopes, the father returns home tired and thin, leaving the family forever changed as they try to understand their new life. While many non-critical characters have their own unique names, the novel's main characters remain nameless. The family in Otsuka's novel is subject to various culturally oppressive behaviors that result in drastic changes in character and behavior within each of the family members and in a loss of identity: the mother becomes a "shell" of herself, both children become more introverted. and introspective and the father becomes a stranger to the whole family. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The family's pre-war home was filled with a number of culturally significant objects, with the home itself demonstrating the potential coexistence of American and Japanese cultural identities. The main characters are not forced to sacrifice any aspect of their identity to conform to the other, within the confines of their home (Gale). In contrast, the mother eliminates any association with Japanese culture from her home when government officials arrest the father. The family renounces their Japanese ancestry, due to war with their home country, in order to illustrate their devotion to their American identity. Assimilation, consequently, leads the family to eliminate an important aspect of their life, which does not save them from the camp. This loss of identity occurs on a psychological level. The woman, after returning from the internment camp, finds herself empty from the inside (mentally empty) and spends much of her time sleeping or in silence (Ahlin, 81). One can identify his loss of identity by comparing his weakness at night and his tenacity during the day. The mother struggles to control these characters as she transitions from one to the other. The following paraphrased quote refers to his difficulties trying to find a job after his release. The ads said they wanted help, that they would train, but no matter where she went, she was turned down. She was continually told that the position had been filled; she tells the author that she was afraid of ruining her eyes by doing this (Otsuka, 128). The strengths that were a distinctive trait of his personality at the beginning of the book vanish in the field. Although children may seem more resistant to the loss of identity than their parents, they are also unable to fight against the psychological torture that the family experiences since the people at the camp. The girl closely identifies with her American identity into which she has been assimilated as she has never shown a strong connection to her cultural background. The girl seems to be going through the middle stages of maturation: moving away from family, evaluating social limits, being with friends more than family. The boy, in contrast to the girl, struggles to maintain his Japanese origins. He mutters the Emperor's name under his breath when passing a guard tower to demonstrate resistance to giving up his identity.Following the events of the war, like their mother, the children begin to lose personality and identity. They conform to the identities into which they have been assimilated simply out of fear of returning to the camp. They respect all the social norms that accompany these identities so as not to act differently from others. The novel's author illustrates, in a formal way, this deficit of conformity and identity through the children's shared views in the penultimate chapter. Although the girl and boy were different characters before the camp, the author shows that these characters became interchangeable after the camp as they use the pronoun “we”. Two individuals who have lost their personalities, thus gradually becoming one person. This tortuous assimilation and the internment camp thus deprived these people of every component and aspect that constituted their complex and nuanced personality. When the father finally returned to the family, he became sensitive to almost everything and therefore suspected every person. who were walking near their home. Inevitably, when he displays this uneasy behavior in the bank, his own children feel a sense of shame due to him, to which they respond by walking away and covering their ears. In their memories, the father enjoys singing for his children, enjoys drawing with them; he is a normal human being. However, the incident that happened in the bank ends up penetrating their dreams, thus destroying the image they had of their father. Neither the book nor the characters comment on the father's suffering. Furthermore, this drastic change in the father takes the form of the war that befalls him. The changes in the father mainly indicate his loss of identity. The internment camp caused suffering to the family and the war transformed the normal and optimistic man into a mentally unstable and strange man. Although one would expect the father to behave like a normal husband or a kind father after his release, but the harsh reality of the book seems to be that he is unable to return to normal. Following his father's strange behavior for a short time, he experiences another change, now becoming isolated and silent (Andersson). This is different from his first strange behaviors as he no longer shouts to express himself, but refuses to talk to other people. He begins to spend much of his time isolated from his family. The fact that he no longer expresses himself is indicative of his loss of identity in the family; the fact that he isolates himself is indicative of his loss of identity as a human being. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Being subjected to several cultural assimilation behaviors, the characters in Otsuka's When the Emperor Was Divine experience drastic changes and a loss of identity. Gradually, the father is no longer able to communicate with other people or act as a father to his family; not being able to continue a normal life. While on the surface one may imagine that the father's changes are manifested through his personality changes, upon further evaluation one may find that the inability to continue his role in the family is what causes the loss of his identity. As a father he is unable to educate or teach his children; and as a husband he is unable to support the family; he is no longer able to live a normal life. Works CitedAhlin, L. (2011). Traumatic States: "When the Emperor Was Divine" by Julie Otsuka. MELUS, 36(3), 81-98. Andersson, A. (2011). Reading and teaching when the emperor was divine. Asian American Teaching, 161-168. Gale, C. R. (2017). The house as a site of resistance in Julie's When the Emperor Was Divine.