Weedflower

Loneliness-I think that loneliness is one of the worst feelings a person can have. As humans we need interaction and love from others and to be deprived of that can really take a lot out of a person. To have friends and family is one of the things i am most thankful for. There have been times in my life where i have felt lonely and it can be a really difficult time in a persons life. I could never imagine the loneliness that the Japanese felt during this time in their lives.Pre-Reading-While browsing through the websites i had a feeling of sympathy for these people, i mean who wouldn't. They were taken away from their homes and put into an area that they were unfamiliar with, often treated very poorly and separated from family. Unlike the the Aleutian people i had heard of the Japanese internment camps. There is definitely a connection between these people and the Jews during the WW2. Part One:After reading the first part of this story it really made me feel what was going on. The characters really came alive to me and i felt like i was there. When i first began reading this story i thought it would be a history lesson, things that i have already heard but it went way beyond that and gave me feeling. I think that is one characterist of a great book, one that makes you feel for the characters. One of the parts that really broke my heart was when Jiichan was invited to the little girls birthday and was not allowed in because she was Japanese. At this time im sure that Jiichan felt loneliness. Im sure that she was scared and confused. This part made me so angry because it is something that i do not understand. Being different is what makes people beautiful. I think that this happend because the whites feared her. They probably had never allowed anyone unlike them selves ino their lives so they thought the worst of her. I think that this still happens today and it will be so important for us as teachers to teach our children that it is okay to be different and that not everyone is the same. This would be a great book to incorporate into that lesson. I marked several passages in this book that really caught my attention. "People born in Asia were not allowed to become American citizens, and those who werent citizens were not allowed to own or lease land" Pg6. This particular quote made me angry because people were coming into this country to find freedom. Many of the immigrants were not skilled workers and so to not have land to work on must have been detrimental to their survivial. Another quote that grabbed my attention was on page 20 and it said "Do you think that they will kill us if the war breaks out?' Summiko said this. A child should never have to fear for their lives or every worry about their safety and this really bothered me. The first part of the story made me feel like I was a part of their family. When the Japanese bombed pearl harbour i could feel the fear that they must have felt when they first found out about this. The whole family prepared themselves by burning Japanese items. When they were taken to the internment camps you were constantly worried well will they be seperated or how they will be treated. It made you think a head of the story. When they were taken to Poston you wandered what they would be doing, i mean it was in the middle of the desert. I really look forward to seeing what happens in the second half of the book..