Thursday, February 16, 2012

In what ways are Night and the excerpt from Farewell to Manzanar most similar?

Night and Farewell to Manzanar are overall similar in the way they convey the experience of minority groups during the second world war. However, they differ in the central aspect of extermination versus concentration.
The excerpt in question tells of the forced removal of the Japanese people from Terminal Island near Long Beach, into Boyle Heights, and eventually to the Manzanar camp in the California Desert. The removal of the people from their homes to a ghetto and from the ghetto to a camp is similar to how Night describes the forced relocation of the Jews from Hungary to Germany.
This part of the excerpt describes their relocation:

There was a lot of talk about internment, or moving inland, or something like that in store for all Japanese Americans. I remember my brothers sitting around the table talking very intently about what we were going to do, and how we would keep the family together.” (Farewell to Manzanar, chapter 3)

Night has a similar section:

We were ready to wait as long as necessary. The courtyard turned into something like an antechamber to an operating room. We stood, waiting for the door to open. Neighbors, hearing the rumors, had joined us. We stared at our watches. Time had slowed down. What was the meaning of such a long session? "I have a bad feeling," said my mother. (Night, section 1)

In both sections, there is a similar pattern of movement among the people. In Manzanar, the family sits around and discusses rumors of how things are going to be handled. They don’t know what is in store, and they are planning for the future. Similarly, the community in Night is discussing the rumors of their deportation. Both sections show us how the process of removing people from society was similar, and how those being sent to camps dealt with the uncertainty around the situation.
While both sections share similarities, once the stories reach the camps, there is a distinct difference in how people are treated. It should be noted that Manzanar was a concentration camp (meant to keep people in one place) while Auschwitz was a death camp (meant to kill the Jewish population of Europe).

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