What Is Miné Okubo: Positive Or Negative Invisibility?
When the world is at war with each other, everyone-- not just the people fighting on the battlefield-- is impacted in some of the worse ways as possible. We always hear of the physical pain and injuries caused during this time, but the real damage is done psychologically. Some experience literal invisibility, where they’re isolated from the people the love. For others, they’re forced to go through figurative invisibility, where they’re dehumanized past the point of sanity. Miné Okubo, an American-born Japanese, was quickly isolated from her home after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. As for an American POW, Louie Zamperini, war meant years of hard labor, beatings, and starvation, all while he had no communication with his family or the outside
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Most importantly, he was fast. He went to the Olympics and almost won gold for how fast he ran. Everywhere he went people knew about him, even in the POW camps where he was imprisoned in for 4 years. The camps were absolute Hell for Louie, which the book tells why by saying, “Every day, at gunpoint, Louie was forced to stand up and dance, staggering through the Charleston while the guards roared with laughter.” (188) This is just one example of how the Japanese tried to break Louie down by treating as less than human and humiliating him. Arguably the worst for Louie however, was how he didn’t have any communication with the outside world. When he first arrives at camp Hillenbrand, the author of Unbroken, explains, “He thought that since this was a POW camp, he would be able to write home to let his family know he was alive… The Bird didn’t allow it.” (246) Louie wasn’t even able to talk to the ones he loved or anyone for that matter. However, he and his fellow comrades are able to make it out of the war alive. This was thanks to them resisting against the guards, some examples being, “They broke into shipping boxes, tapped bottles, lifted storage doors off their hinges, raided ships’ galleys, and crawled up factory chutes.” (249) Even though they were treated as basically slaves, the POWs don’t let the Japanese break down their dignity by rebelling against them. Because they were able to resist against the guards’ efforts to make the POWs, including Louie, were able to not lose their self worth and
Most importantly, he was fast. He went to the Olympics and almost won gold for how fast he ran. Everywhere he went people knew about him, even in the POW camps where he was imprisoned in for 4 years. The camps were absolute Hell for Louie, which the book tells why by saying, “Every day, at gunpoint, Louie was forced to stand up and dance, staggering through the Charleston while the guards roared with laughter.” (188) This is just one example of how the Japanese tried to break Louie down by treating as less than human and humiliating him. Arguably the worst for Louie however, was how he didn’t have any communication with the outside world. When he first arrives at camp Hillenbrand, the author of Unbroken, explains, “He thought that since this was a POW camp, he would be able to write home to let his family know he was alive… The Bird didn’t allow it.” (246) Louie wasn’t even able to talk to the ones he loved or anyone for that matter. However, he and his fellow comrades are able to make it out of the war alive. This was thanks to them resisting against the guards, some examples being, “They broke into shipping boxes, tapped bottles, lifted storage doors off their hinges, raided ships’ galleys, and crawled up factory chutes.” (249) Even though they were treated as basically slaves, the POWs don’t let the Japanese break down their dignity by rebelling against them. Because they were able to resist against the guards’ efforts to make the POWs, including Louie, were able to not lose their self worth and