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Post by gillianlaird on Jul 26, 2024 18:41:13 GMT
The decision to make this a graphic novel feels like an act of rebellion to me. In my research of this novel, I learned that cameras were not allowed anywhere near the Japanese internment camps. To me, this says that the US government did not want anyone seeing what was being done to the Japanese, much less how it somewhat replicates what was being done to the Jews overseas. In writing, drawing, and publishing this novel, it feels like the author is rebelling against these mandates in order to spread awareness.
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jul 27, 2024 15:10:53 GMT
Yes, I feel like this might fall into a gray area-- - the stated concern from U. S. officials was that the Japanese Americans were agents of the enemy, and they would be sending information about military installations (or whatever). I can definitely imagine how having a Japanese-looking woman creating sketches of all the internment camps might set some people at unease... At least in the self-portraits she included in the book, she's out there sketching in the open, so it may have been tacitly concerned? Hard to say.
Also worth noting that this was not published until after the war was finished (1946), so perhaps concerns were lessened at that point. But I do agree that to some extent all works of literature are an act of rebellion, and this one much more than others given the circumstances!
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Post by gnicholson3 on Jul 29, 2024 22:26:39 GMT
I remember learning about the Japanese internment camps after I had already graduated high school. I know a parallel has already been drawn between the German concentration camps and these, but I also think about how clueless the majority of German citizens were about the actualities of what occurred until it was far too late in the war. The use of illustrations in the novel are multifaceted in their use. I believe they are meant to capture the abject horror of the proceedings, to send a visual, emotional message to the readers, and provide the closest thing to tangible proof. The presence of this 'graphic' novel was something that was needed to help others bridge the gap between visualizing and actually seeing and understanding.
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