![]() Matsuzawa, an older, quiet neighbor at Tanforan, gives Kiku and other prisoners homemade gifts, she is moved by this unexpected gesture, especially when she realizes that the "small violin figure wth my grandmother's name on it has been carefully tucked away in my family's living room my whole life" was also made by Mr. While Kiku's experience at Tanforan (a horse racing track that was used as an "assembly center" where prisoners were processed for forced relocation) and the Topaz War Relocation Center are bleak, Hughes also lifts up the better aspects of humanity. Kiku's lack of knowledge of her family's history highlights the dual challenge of passing on memories of traumatic experiences and suppressing one culture, language and traditions in order not to appear "too Japanese" when the forced relocation ended. ![]() Kiku's lack of knowledge of this passage of American history to allows readers the immediacy of experiencing the "difficult, degrading, terrifying" act of being a prisoner in a forced relocation camp right alongside her. ![]()
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