Otsuka Oppression

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, oppression is a concept that means unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power. At first, it was difficult for me to fully comprehend the meaning of oppression. However, following our class readings, this concept has become clearer to me. As mentioned by Simone Weil, “Human beings are so made that the ones who do the crushing feel nothing; it is the person crushed who feels what is happening. Unless one has placed oneself on the side of the oppressed, to feel with them, one cannot understand.” In order to understand oppression you need to walk in ones shoes. The class readings gave us an inside look and life examples of how oppression comes about. Oppression is not something that happens overnight.
It is built overtime, gradually, until we realize what we have been through. Through the readings I witnessed the outcome of oppression. Oppression is revealed in the way people react to things and how they act on a daily basis. People may not even be aware that their actions are an end result of oppression.
For instance, in Emperor Was Devine, when the family returns home after nearly three and a half years being restricted to the camp, the mother keeps her head down, reluctant or maybe incapable to acknowledge herself to others unless it was absolutely necessary. In a lecture given to the children, they are taught to remain common, unmemorable, and nameless as a way of self-protection. Also, they were told not to answer questions in class even when they know the answer and to follow all rules no matter how bizarre they may seem. The cruel circumstances of these Japanese families forced them to hide and be ashamed of their race/identity. In the chapter entitled "In a Stranger's Backyard," which represents the collective impressions of the two children, they communicate their feelings about how they look. They say, "We looked at ourselves in the mirror and did not like what we saw: black hair, yellow skin, slanted eyes. The cruel face of the enemy. We were guilty." They grew to become embarrassed of their true identity. They even began changing the way they ate. The mother would pack the children an ‘American sandwich’ over a traditional rice ball for lunch. In Buddha in the Attic, Otsuka gives oppressed and silenced women voice and at the same time brings light on how their voices have been lost to history.
Reading this the author shows how little historical and cultural differences matter. We feel as if we know these women who are telling their stories. These women were oppressed: for being women and for being Japanese. In the final sentence of "First Night," Otsuka writes, "They took us swiftly, repeatedly, all throughout the night, and in the morning when we woke we were theirs." This quote demonstrates how their identity and everything they once knew has now vanished and been taken away from them. The women began to overlook or maybe intentionally disregard where they came from and who they really are deep inside their souls. They said, "We forgot about Buddha. We forgot about God. . . . I fear my soul has died. . . . And often our husbands did not even notice we’d disappeared." This is a very powerful line the book. It is suggesting the lost of their inner-selves. Otsuka writes of the women’s children, "One by one all the old words we had taught them began to disappear from their heads. They forgot the names of the flowers in Japanese. They forgot the names of the colors". This is significant because it shows how the children’s cultural inheritance would die out along with their race and
culture.

In Why She Left Us, by Rizzuto, as a result to oppression, Jack had no idea what was going on. His brother will asked Jack, “Don’t you have friends, Jack? Haven’t any of them told you what’s going on?” He was asking him if he had any Japanese friends that would fill him in with what is going on. However, Jack “..never hung around with other Japanese.” Jack was oppressing the reality that he was Japanese. He probably did not hang out with other Japanese people because it was something he learned to be ashamed about. This demonstrates him being “Americanized” and not wanting anything to do with any one from his culture. Jack felt no connection with his family. The author goes on to mention how, “Jack had the strong urge to flee.” This shows he wanted not anything to with his own family. He did not want to be in the region of people who were “slanted-eyed” and “yellow skinned”. “..Jack made up his own world. On the inside, he was American. On the outside, though, it wasn’t looking too good.” Indeed forgetting that he looks just like them and there is no way he can ever change that.
Oppression is not something that happens overnight. It is build through many experiences in people’s lives. You are able to notice oppression through people’s actions in their daily lives. Finding this quote online sums up how I look at oppression today. “Loss of freedom seldom happens overnight. Oppression doesn't stand on the doorstep with toothbrush moustache and swastika armband -- it creeps up insidiously... step by step, and all of a sudden the unfortunate citizen realizes that it is gone.” - Baron Lane