The Buddha In The Attic Analysis

When one is the child of first generation immigrants, they may not recognize the hardships which their parents had to endure to give them a good upbringing. This can lead to a plethora of different challenges, including leaving behind the parents’ ideals and traditions. For the mothers of the second-generation immigrants, this is disheartening to hear that their children are willing to get rid century old traditions to take on new ones. For the mothers in the novel, it is even more discouraging when their children push them away because it makes them feel undesirable and not needed. In the novel, The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka, the children of the first-generation Japanese immigrants choose between their Japanese and American identities through their schooling and the way they act when they are home.
Consequently, it puts the children at a disadvantage when they are first enrolled, but they quickly pick up the language the more they attend. While this is a vital skill to utilize to be able to further their academic careers, they are also losing their knowledge of the Japanese language. “One by one all the old words we had taught them began to disappear from their heads (72).” The children are quickly forgetting their roots, which foreshadows the events of the children disaffiliating from the other beliefs their parents taught them. This is the first glimpse of the children choosing between their Japanese past and their American future. Also, the children are now able to speak for themselves and make their desires known, which in a sense makes them superior to their non-English speaking