World War 2 Invisibility Essay

World War II Invisibility and its resistance
There were many difficulties immigrants from Japan faced, one of which is that they felt invisible and were sent to camps to protect the general population of caucasians. During World War II Louie and Miné were both people who felt the repercussions of racism. Many feel invisible or as if no one cares about their wellbeing. Louie felt this when he was abducted and held as a POW. Miné felt this when she became an internee and was forced away from the general population. This just goes to show how amazing the homo sapien is and how it will always bounce back after difficult situations and has a gargantuan drive to stay alive. Japanese-Americans internees and POWs (Prisoners of war) were made to feel
invisible but tried to resist it.
The POWs and japanese internees felt extremely secluded and cut of from society. These guards in the POW camps were just brutal and they would hurt the prisoners just to dehumanize them. “The guard brought a cup. Louie, grateful, drew close to the door to drink. The guard threw scalding water in his face.” Louie wanted water because he was dehydrated and he got scalding water thrown on him as punishment for begging for water. Miné okubo was dehumanized when she had to go to the relocation center.“As a result of the interview,” she wrote, “my family name was reduced to No. 13660. I was given several tags bearing the family number, and was then dismissed” This goes to show how little respect the U.S. had for these men, women and families and how the U.S. changed their names into numbers. The U.S. took someone most unique and creative feature and changed it to a numeric symbol that means one more than the one before and one less than the one after it. Once again the prisoners being beaten to make them feel like nothing. “Nearly every day, they flew into rages that usually ended with phil and louie being spat upon and bombarded with rocks and lit cigarettes.” They would hurt these prisoners, beat them, and sometimes just kill them to make then feel like an item. These prisoners would be tortured until they have no will to live.There was many people that had to live through this and Japan is not the only one at fault because we did this too. The U.S. treated them considerably better but still like prisoners.
Though these people were rendered invisible by their superiors they fought back and kept their strong will to live and fight.
Miné is fighting back and trying to be a someone in this country even with the cultural barriers that were being put up. “She took a chance by entering a Berkeley art contest through the mail, and she won. As a result, across the country, the editors of New York’s Fortune magazine saw some of Miné’s artwork.” Miné was not going to tolerate being in a camp all her life so she chose to enter a national contest, and she was nationally recognized. In turn she was given many job opportunities that she was allowed out of her camp for. The Bird was a guard who would beat the prisoners tenfold than any other guards. There was numerous times that the bird beat Louie to unconsciousness and gave him impossible tasks that beating was the punishment for failure. “The conspirators discussed who would join the group that would capture the bird and throw him to his death” The POWs decided to attempt to kill the bird so that they wouldn’t be beaten as much and that they would be safer. The POWs wouldn’t get enough food to maintain good health so they had to take measures into their own hands. “Sometimes darting away to steal vegetables from fields when Ogawa’s back was turned.” The Japanese-American internees and the POWs may have been dehumanized and beaten, but they did not lose hope. The people kept fighting and tried stop this
torture.
Japanese-Americans internees and POWs (Prisoners of war). Were made to feel invisible but tried to attempt it. Louie and Miné were both forced into isolation and were rendered invisible by the general population. Neither of them would let that happen though and they fought back through the cruelty of their captors. The homo sapien is a truly stupefying species that will fight back and resist their unruly fate. Louie and Miné were prime examples of the strong fighting back.