Weedflower- Holly Main's Reaction

Loneliness to me feels like the whole world is against you and you have no one to turn to. It’s when you really need to talk to someone and speak what is on your mind but you feel as if you have nobody to do that with. It can make you feel like an outsider who is just looking into the world but not really a part of it. When I think about my favorite memories many things come to my mind. I think about my family and growing up, and also I think about all my best friends and all the crazy times we have shared together. I think about loved ones that I have lost along the way and also about all my pets, especially the ones who are no longer with us. I hold onto these memories through looking back at pictures and videos and through telling stories with all of these people so I can remember the memories.

Pre-reading: I am outraged by how the Japanese American’s were treated during WWII. How could we treat people who were born here and did nothing wrong like that? These websites were very powerful, and the thinkquest one really made me think. It saddened me when the lady was talking about how the concentration camp did not supply her with milk for her baby for ten days and now here daughter is still having health problems as a result. How could a soldier sit there and let these people be treated this way, especially an innocent infant? It would be horrifying living in a barrack in one of these camps and I realize how much I take for granted just by looking at what these people had to endure just because of their ethnicity. How terrible would it be to be forced out of your home, live in a dreadful place for years and be treated badly, and then return to your home that you worked for and find someone else living in it. These people were so brave to have to start their lives over after they were let out of the camps and I look up to them for their courage to make it through such a horrible ordeal.

Chapters 1-15

This book is amazing so far. Sumiko has gone through so many struggles already in her young life. I was deeply saddened when I found out she lost both of parents to a car accident that she has little recollection of and her and her little brother must live with their Aunt and Uncle on their carnation farm. I was very surprised when I learned the process of heating the bathtub and only changing the water so often. I guess I just do not think I would feel very clean if I was in Sumiko’s position and had to bathe last in luke warm water after my whole family. But back then it was common so Sumiko probably never really thought about the germs in the tub like people today would. I wanted to cry for Sumiko when her hopes about having a fabulous time at the birthday party were shattered. I cannot imagine how she must have felt by being rejected by so many of her peers and the birthday girl’s mother all because she was Japanese. How can people do that to a young girl? How could they insult someone and reject them for something that they themselves have no power over. I was astonished by how strong Sumiko was at first when she kept her cool while lying to everyone about the party during the car ride home and dinner. She showed how strong she was because I do not know that I would have told them either. It would have just caused a lot of un-needed drama and made her family worry even more about the war and people’s attitudes towards them. I am glad she finally broke down and told someone because it would have been even worse for her in my opinion to keep all that hurt and anger bottled up inside her.

The whole time I was reading I kept on trying to put myself in Sumiko’s shoes and see how I would feel and react in these situations. It did not work because how could you ever know how being uprooted from your life to live under these horrid conditions without actually experiencing this. When Sumiko’s neighbor was crying over her dog that she had to leave in her house I felt so sad because I would not be able to survive if I had to abandon my dog. It was a heart wrenching part of the novel for me and I was so thankful when I read further into the book and someone sent her a letter telling her that she was taking care of her beloved animal. That gave me some hope that there were still some people left during this time that had some compassion for these people and the way that they were being treated.

I keep wondering how they would live at these concentration camps with those horrible conditions. It is terrible that we American’s put them in the same place that we would put a horse with only hay to sleep on and one over hanging light. These are people! I am disgusted with the treatment of the Japanese and keep thinking about how much the Japanese treatment is like the Aleutians. The similarities are mind boggling and Weedflower is told by a young girl just like Aleutian Sparrow was. I cannot wait to read on and see what becomes of Sumiko and her family during this trying time that she had to endure. Hopefully she will use her strength and courage to pull through!