Loneliness: Being lonely to me is one of the worst things I can think of. To me this means not being able to share something exciting that happened during your day or able to rant about something bad that went wrong. It’s having no one or nothing to confide in, not a pet or a person to have companionship in
Pre reading: I have heard about the internment camps before, but never in depth. I didn’t realize they were shipped from place to place. In most cases when something has gone wrong or is going wrong and everyone knows that it is wrong and immoral, they do it anyways out of fear; the fear of the different and unknown. And the other thing I didn’t realize is that after the fact that they were uprooted and shipped around and treated like animals. They were not even able to get back to their lives. They were not able to go back to their homes, hard to find jobs, and were still looked down upon in fear from other citizens.
Post reading (first half): Six grade is so hard on a kid anyways, peer pressure really starts to kick in, changes occur, and it’s usually when many students go to a different school. But on top of all that to be invited to your very first birthday party and to be completely rejected for something you absolutely do not have any control over is absolutely heart breaking. And then not telling anyone about it for a while, really must have made Sumiko feel so alone. Even the anticipation made me feel so awful. She brought the perfect present and was so excited for quite a while, then to just be rejected by the mother while having a male student look out the window at her. She had just been dropped off as well, I feel this day could not have gotten any worse for little Sumiko. The mother even tries to justify herself saying “It’s not me dear.” Saying that other parents would take offense to her being Japanese.
Once the attack came at Pearl Harbor, the Niekki (people of Japanese ancestry, including American born) were rounded up and sent off away from their homes. This made me think of little Vera, who was so brave in Aleutian Sparrow. It made me wonder if Sumiko was going to be as strong. Their first little internment camp was at the San Carlos Race Track. How awful to be thrown in a stable like an animal and given unsanitary things to eat. They all got sick from dinner. The one part I thought was extremely sweet yet sad was when Mrs. Ono received the letter from Mrs. Julia Donnell saying that she would take care of her dog while she was gone, this gave Mrs. Ono a little hope that things might turn out all right. It really put into perspective what all they had to leave behind. I would just die if I had to leave my little puppy and not know if she was going to be ok! And leaving their being shipped off again to a place I could never even dream of. I can just imagine Sumiko’s heart drop and a lump in her throat when she looks out at and sees what looks like to her boiling water in the sky, being a dust storm. Never seeing something like this and being the first thing she experiences at Poston makes you think poor Sumiko and Tak Tak are really in for a bad haul.
I think Cynthia couldn’t have chosen a better title for this novel. Weed flowers, flowers in general, seem to be Sumiko’s escape from reality. I feel like they are a constant in her life, a flower is a flower and will never change into anything else. She even makes mention that her first daughter she wants to name Hanako which means flower child. When they first had to leave their hose Sumiko showed so much concern for the flowers that were going to be left behind. She wanted to take them and said what would happen to them. I can’t wait to see how the story ends; I have really fallen in love with Sumiko and little Tak Tak.
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5 comments:
I don't quite understand why you would want to change the title. I think that it fits the story perfectly. I feel that the Weedflowers represent the Japanese. Sumiko's uncle and everyone else were so concerned about the other flowers that the Weedflowers were often forgoten and not treated with the same love and respect as all the other flowers. Mostly because they are not what people wanted. At this time in America the Japanese were the weedflowers. Nobody wanted them here, they were treated like weeds that people could just walk all over. Sumiko however saw the beauty in her people just like she did the weedflowers. Each one unique, special and beautiful. I personally think the title fits perfectly and wouldn't change it. You mentioned that a flower is a flower and it will never change. I agree with you but Japanese are Japanese and they will never change either. So, people can either accept them for what they are or discard them like they are nothing which is what we did. I think that there are so many wonderful connections between the Weedflowers and this story and I am sorry that you think there should have been a different title. I just don't see it that way.
The party scene was so heartbreaking wasnt it? I have a younger sister who is in seventh grade and I can just imagine how much it would hurt her to be turnred away from a birthday party, especially if she was the only one like Sumiko was. The mother of the birthday girl was the one who did it too; I cannot imagine being a mother and yet being so cruel to another child. It just doesnt make sense to me. You would think that as a mother she would have known better. The Japanese Americans suffered so much for our silly intolerance and cruel racism.
I also think that "Weedflower" is an appropriate title because the Japanese's lives revolove around these weedflowers. Sixth grade is such a hard time. I can't imagine how lonely Sumiko must have felt when she was discriminated againist at the birthday party. I think that Sumiko is a very mature twelve year old.
Jennifer I just wanted to apologize because I read your post wrong. I thought you were saying that Cynthia could have chosen a better title other than Weedflowers. So, I just wanted you to know that I read it the right way this time and now I agree with you. :)
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