"Letters to Memory": a modern symphony associated with Japanese-American politics

Introduction 

In her book 'Letters to Memory ,’ Karen Tei Yamashita can provide readers with a historical context of Japanese internment camps focusing on the experiences from her extended family. An in-depth review of the book shows that is can be considered as a modern symphony associated with Japanese-American politics, as it seeks to highlight some of the challenges that Japanese families experienced in the camps. What makes the book unique, in its approach to connecting with the audience, is the fact that Yamashita seeks to use archival materials relating to her own family. This creates a sense of deeper connection that the readers can have concerning the information that Yamashita is passing along as part of describing her family’s experiences in the internment camps. The focus of this report is to examine why Yamashita's book and argument can be considered as being useful concerning their abilities to communicate the great purpose.

Effectiveness of Yamashita’s Book and Argument 

When evaluating the efficacy of Yamashita's book and argument concerning their ability to shed more light on life within the internment camps, one of the key aspects to note is that Yamashita does not seek to use a theoretical approach to describing her memory. Instead, Yamashita draws much of her attention on her family's history as a way of ensuring that she can create a series of epistolary conversations that reflect on life in the camps. The expectation is that Yamashita must be able to create a projected understanding of what she believes is an authentic experience in the internment camps based on her own family's involvement in the fields.

In trying to describe what Japanese families experienced, Yamashita seeks to explain the experiences that reflect on her own family with the intention being towards ensuring that her arguments remain effective. Yamashita (2017) writes, “Homer, today, April 30, happens to be the day on which, over seventy years ago in 1942, my father and his family lost their freedom upon entry to Tanforan Racetrack, a designated Assembly Center in San Bruno, California, for the wartime removal of Japanese” (p.6). Readers can experience a much deeper connection with what she is describing considering that her family may have gone through the experiences. This plays a much more active role towards showing that she is indeed well aware of the fact that Japanese families may have experienced severe challenges while in the internment camps, as they 'lost their freedom.’

Yamashita can mine some of the family letters and government documents that reflect on Japanese internment camps from where she can draw much of her information from as a way of creating a composite connection with the audience. The use of these letters and documents is an effective way through which to ensure that Yamashita builds an argument that can be considered as being useful concerning describing the challenges that Japanese families experienced in the internment camps. When going through the book, one is able to take note of the fact that Yamashita is able to attach specific letters and documents that reflect on both her family and the government as a way of supporting her argument with regard to the fact that Japanese families in the internment camps found themselves facing a lot of hardships and challenges.

Another critical aspect to note when seeking to highlight the effectiveness of the book and, in extension, Yamashita's argument is the fact that she uses the book in trying to interrogate the cruelty associated with internment. Additionally, she goes beyond the context of confinement to reflect on the random nature related to aspects such as immigration, war, birth, disease, and death as they relate to Japanese families. Yamashita (2017) writes that "The old king goes into the forest to retrieve his exiled son, but the exclamation of their reunion is too much, and they all collapse – one supposes, in blissful death” (p.120). It is from this perspective that the readers can understand the fact that indeed the internment camps sought to establish a front through which Japanese families would experience suffering leading to their death in hundreds.

Conclusion 

Yamashita, in her book 'Letters to Memory ,' reflects on life for Japanese families living within internment camps. She can build on her argument's effectiveness by using her extended family's experiences in the fields as part of her book. She seeks to describe the fact that indeed, her extended family experienced a wide array of challenges revolving around life within the camps. Yamashita can mine some of the family letters and government documents that reflect on Japanese internment camps from where she can draw much of her information. Using these letters and documents, she can show random nature associated with aspects such as immigration, war, birth, disease, and death as they relate to the Japanese families while in the internment camps.

References

Yamashita, K. T. (2017). Letters to Memory . Minneapolis, MN: Coffee House Press.