JDurand+Picture+Bride

A novel by Yoshiko Uchida (1921-1992)
 * __Picture Bride (1987)-

__**  " Through my book I hope to give young Asian Americans a sense of their past and to reinforce their self-esteem and self-knowledge. At the same time, I want to dispel the stereotypic image still held by many non-Asians about the Japanese and write about them as real people. I hope to convey the strength of spirit and the sense of hope and purpose I have observed in many first-generation Japanese. Beyond that, I write to celebrate our common humanity and the basic elements of humanity that are in all our strivings."-Yoshiko Uchida

 Yoshiko Uchida was born in 1921 in Alameda California. Her parents emigrated from Japan to raise their children in America. Yoshiko's parents planted within her a love for reading books and also writing poetry. Yoshiko never really realized the difference between herself and Americans until she started attending school. When Pearl Harbor took place her father was taken to an internment camp under the suspicion that he had something to do with the bombings. Although Yoshiko and her family went through many hardships she was able to graduate high school within two and a half years and at the age of sixteen she attended the University of California as a freshman. It was not all uphill for Yoshiko for eventually she and her family were put into an internment camp. While at the internment camp a love for teaching was instilled within Yoshiko and she was soon rewarded with a job of teaching children. After a year Yoshiko was set free but she was forced to leave her family behind. Yoshiko soon after attended Smith's College in Brooklyn, New York. Upon completion of her degree Yoshiko began teaching. The love she had for her Japanese culture and experiences was so strong that she decided to write children’s books about them. It was her hope that she could teach Americans more about the Japanese culture so things like internment camps would never happen again! Yoshika died around the age of 70 in 1992.  __ **Plot Synopsis:** __ The book __Picture Bride__ is about a young Japanese woman named Hanna who leaves Japan to come to San Francisco, California as one of several "picture brides." A "picture bride" was a woman who was sent to America in the early 1900's for an arranged marriage. Hanna Omiya was 21 years old when she sailed to America to find her husband Taro Takeda. Hanna came to America expecting to find a Japanese man who had "made it big" so as to speak in America. Hanna found the total opposite, the store that her soon to be husband owned was a little store on a nameless street; it was drab, dirty and smelled of stale food. There were cobwebs and mice droppings, along with dust that covered the corners.  Taro had not come to America alone; he came with a good friend named Kiyoshi Yamaka. Both Taro and Yamaka attended a Japanese Christian church. Hanna first meets Yamaka after church service one afternoon and instantly the attraction between the two is made. Hanna struggles with her feelings until the day she is married; she wants to be a good wife to Taro but cannot help thinking about Yamaka. Soon after Taro and Hanna’s wedding things begin to move forward, the store is doing much better and Hanna is pregnant. Tragedy soon strikes when influenza breaks out throughout California. Taro's good friend Yamaka contracts the influenza and eventually dies leaving Hanna with the memory of the sin they **almost** committed. Soon after Yamaka dies Hanna contracts the deadly influenza. She battles it for 2 weeks and eventually gets better. After her recovery she takes a dreadful fall down the stairs, Hanna and Taro rush to the hospital to find out that their baby boy has died. Taro and Hanna are fortunate enough to have their good friends Henry and Kiki support them trough all these tragic events. Although this unfortunate event befalls them Hanna soon becomes pregnant again and gives birth to the only child Taro and Hanna will ever have, her name is Mary (Mah Ca). Taro eventually earns enough money from his store, this means that they will be able to move out of their apartment above the store and into a real house. Shortly after they move in they are faced with discrimination from their fellow white American neighbors. Things eventually start going downhill for Taro at his store as Hanna is forced to stay home with Mary and cannot help. Hanna decides to start housework for Mrs. Davis a friend of Kiku's. Even though they have little money when a young man named Kenji Nishima from their church starts to fall behind in his studies at Seminary school they allow him to move into their house to get back on his feet. As Mary begins to grow up Taro puts the store in her name since she is an American citizen, this eventually benefits the store.  One thing Hanna struggles with ever since she came to America was her English. A good friend of Hanna’s, Mrs. Davis recognizes this and suggests that Hanna study up on her English so that her relationship with her daughter does not begin to weaken. Hanna knows this is what she should do but she decides otherwise.  When Mary becomes a freshman at a University she begins to discover boys. She invites many of her Japanese dates over to meet her parents. One day Mary comes home with exciting news, she has been asked out on a date by a teacher in one of her classes. When Hanna finds out that this teacher is a brown-haired, blue-eyes white man named Joe Cantelli she is distraught. Taro tells her to think nothing of it but she cannot. A few weeks later on a cold winter morning Hanna and Taro wake up to find that their only daughter has left them to get married to Joe. Soon after this distressing news the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Mrs. Davis comes over to comfort Hanna and Taro, but also informs them that this will probably mean they will be sent away since they can no longer be trusted. Mrs. Davis is right, for in a few weeks the government sends every person of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast a letter. The letter tells them that they will need to leave there homes to go to internment camps. Taro is forced to sell his shop and Hanna is forced to leave the home and friend she loves. The internment camps are terrible. Taro and Hanna register and receive a small dust filled horse stall as their home. They deal with dust storms, loneliness and sickness. At the internment camp they are informed that their good friend Henry has been murdered. The Japanese Americans went through nothing but hardships before and after Pearl harbor was bombed. (Pictured above is a Japanese internment camp)
 * For more information about Yoshiko Uchida go to http://www.phschool.com/atschool/literature/author_biographies/uchida_y.html 
 * Or http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/uchida_yushiko.html <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">

__Picture Bride__ was a book like no other. It was very enjoyable and it gave me more information into what happened to the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. The story did get slow at times as does any book but for the most part it was very interesting. I wish the author would have talked more about the difficulties at the internment camps and left out some of the less important details. The book was still and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the Japanese culture or anyone who is looking for a good book on a rainy day.
 * __Book Criticism:__**

I believe this book was placed on the Outstanding Book list because it is a story that reminds Americans about someone else’s struggles. It talks about a piece of history that is rarely talked about among Americans. It teaches Americans more about the Japanese culture in the hope of internment camps never happening again. Overall it is an interesting story that sums up a good chunk of history into under 220 pages!
 * __Why Outstanding?:__**

The book __Picture Bride__ is a historical novel. It is a historical fiction novel that ties in the history of Japanese internment camps during WW2. The book keeps your attention the whole way through and gives you some insight into the lives of the Japanese Americans before and after WW2.
 * __Literary Info:__**

I would recommend this book because it is a book different from most other books. It gives you an opportunity to broaden your horizons with a little touch of Japanese. Uchida (the author) made you feel as if you were experiencing what Hanna and Taro were. Uchida's use of ethos, logos and pathos are very clear and recognizable. I would highly recommend reading __Picture Bride__, you will definitely not regret it!
 * __Why Recommended:__**

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #943634; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV3iVvDFpaM <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #943634; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #6a1b1d; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; msoFareastFontFamily: 'Times New Roman'">If you are interested here is a you-tube video to watch that summarizes a Japanese man experience after Pearl Harbor was bombed.

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #943634; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191">http://park204.wikispaces.com/Brittany+J.D.+Salingers+The+Catcher+and+the+Rye <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #943634; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #943634; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191">http://park204.wikispaces.com/Laura+Buck+The+Good+Earth <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #943634; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">
 * __Links to other great Wiki's:__**