Danielle's Response to Weedflower

Pre-Reading:
After looking at the websites and reading about what people went through and the way these camps were run I find it really hard to but my head around and really understand that this happened right here in our own country. When I hear about internment camps and "locking" people up like we did I don't think of Arizona. I think of some far off distant place where people are cruel. To change my way of thinking and realize that we really did treat people liek this just blows my mind. I feel ashamed for our country and who we are supposed to represent because by treating the Japanese the way we did was just unfair.

Everyone has their different idea of what it is like to be lonely. I am sure that I have never felt loneliness like those who were in internment camps. However I can remember one time in my life when I though the world had abandoned me and I did get a taste of what it felt like to be lonely. When my parents got divorced I had a really hard time with it. I was in third grade and didn't understand what was going on except for the fact that my dad was gone, all the time. I am an only child and at the time my parents were so caught up in the divorce and trying to get their life back together that I felt alone. I had no one to share my thoughts with and I had no one to experience this life transition with. I felt alone and scared especially at such a young age to be experiencing such strong feelings I thought I was the only person in the world that could understand my pain. Of course everything got better but at that one moment in my life I do feel I got a taste of what it was like to be alone. To be lonely is something different for everyone and I can't imagine having to experience that feeling for years with resentment and so much more like the Japanese did. I can only hope that none of us ever have to experience loneliness like that.

After reading Weedflower:
What a sweet girl Sumiko is. From the first couple pages I couldn't help but feel a connection to her character. She is so full of life and always looks to the brighter side of things. The whole family has captured my heart. Tak-Tak is curious yet afraid, Jiichan is an old wise man, the cousins remind me of my own and what wonderful people Aunt and Uncle seem to be. They have really taken in Sumiko and Tak-Tak as if they were their own children. I just previously read a book called Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata and I could help but notice a resemblance in the characters attitudes. Kira-Kira is a story about a Japanese family who live in rural Georgia during the 1950's. It tells of their life as Japanese and their struggles to make a living in America. In the story there was a younger sister who looked up to her older sister and thought she was amazing, much like Sumiko and Tak-Tak. However the strongest connection was between the mother and father in Kira-Kira and the aunt and uncle in Weedflower. In both books Cynthia portrayed both women to be very serious, hard working and humorless women. The kind of women that make you feel like you must be on task at all times, no joking or cutting up, just very set in their ways. The men on the other hand were very tender and loving. I just think it is weird because in our culture it is kind of the opposite. The women in our lives are nurturing and loving whereas the men show no emotion and things like that. It just gave me the sense that this really is how people from the Japanese culture act which fascinates me.

The story of Sumiko and her family is heart wrenching. Just in the first couple chapters I couldn't believe what Sumiko had went through with the whole birthday party incident. I wanted to reach in the pages and ask that women how could she be so cruel. To tell a 13 year old that she can't come into the party because she was Japanese was uncalled for. I can't imagine ever living in a time where things like that happen. I have always had friends of different race and religion and I can't imagine someone being so cruel. Not to mention Sumiko and how strong she was. At thirteen I could have never acted so mature and strong about a situation like that. As soon I would have saw uncle and Jiichan I would have lost it. But to hold it together for her family, to give them hope that everything was wonderful and perfect showed a side of Sumiko that was unbelievable. Throughout the entire book she shows so much strength that it is empowering to me and I would hope to my students who read this book. Towards the middle of the book Sumiko started to talk about the ultimate boredom. What a phrase and what that really says is so powerful. To really think that you are reaching the ultimate boredom, what do you do with yourself? How would you feel? I can't wait to finish reading Weedflower and see what happens to Sumiko and her family, will she reach the ultimate boredom, will her family be reunited? These are questions I am dying to find out the answer to.