Farewell to Manzanar by James D. Houston and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
Discussion questions
Before Reading: Before reading Farewell to Manzanar, use the primary source documents contained in the Open Source sets entitled "Links in the Chain" on the Orange Story website to evaluate the historical context in which the memoir was written. Next, view the film "And Then They Came For Us" on the Facing History and Ourselves website to consider why Japanese-Americans came under more suspicion than Italian- or German-Americans. How were Japanese-Americans viewed by other Americans prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor? After? Based on primary source documents, what factors do you believe contributed to the decision to intern Japanese-Americans? (Note to teacher: a number of these documents contain offensive racial epithets but are included for historical accuracy - please review PRIOR to showing and use your judgment on what items to include or exclude based on student population, age, and maturity).
2. Rhetorical Analysis: Carefully review slides 9, 10, and 11 in "Links in the Chain"/Orange Story. For each visual, have students analyze the rhetorical situation of each piece, considering Speaker, Occassion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, and Tone (SOAPSTone) by using textual evidence to support their findings. Next, have students compare and contrast slides 9 and 10 to slide 11. What particular aspects of the first two slides does slide 11 challenge? What textual evidence supports your findings?
3. During/After Reading: Using the primary source materials previously reviewed, compare and contrast the historical documents to Houston's narrative. Where does her experience reflect aspects of the time period captured in the primary source set?
Assessment
Divide students into groups and ask each to design a political cartoon or a propaganda poster that would have depicted Japanese-Americans as loyal citizens rather than traitors with divided loyalty. Students should consider what kinds of language and images will help convey their rhetorical goal? What propaganda techniques should they employ? Make it clear that students will NOT be graded based on their artistic skill but on the thought-process and understanding behind their creation. As part of the evaluation process, have students include a written rationale explaining the reasons for their choices, being sure to connect their explanation to specific evidence related to the documents studied in this unit and their understanding of rhetoric.