Farewell to Manzanar
Important Quotations Explained
1. [Mama]
would quickly subordinate her own desires to those of the family
or the community, because she knew cooperation was the only way
to survive. At the same time she placed a high premium on personal
privacy, respected it in others and insisted upon it for herself.
… Almost everyone at Manzanar had inherited this pair of traits
from the generations before them who had learned to live in a small, crowded
country like Japan.”
2. “When
your mother and your father are having a fight, do you want them
to kill each other? Or do you just want them to stop fighting?”
3. I
smiled and sat down, suddenly aware of what being of Japanese ancestry
was going to be like. I wouldn’t be faced with physical attack,
or with overt shows of hatred. Rather, I would be seen as someone
foreign, or as someone other than American, or perhaps not be seen
at all.
4. I
feel no malice toward this girl. I don’t even envy her. Watching,
I am simply emptied, and in the dream I want to cry out, because
she is something I can never be, some possibility in my life that
can never be fulfilled.
Readers' Notes allow users to add their own analysis and insights to our SparkNotes—and to discuss those ideas with one another. Have a novel take or think we left something out? Add a Readers' Note!








