When the Emperor Was Divine: Chapter 4 Questions

1. Who is narrating this chapter? ----The girl and the boy
2. What has changed while the family was away? ---The trees on the streets were taller than usual, the cars more run down, and the rosebush, which was planted by their mother, was no longer there.
3. What has happened to the family’s furniture and to the money they were supposed to get for renting their house? ----The furniture was gone, all except the card table, folding chairs, a metal stool, and a broken gooseneck lamp; They never received the money that they were promised tot them for the residents living there while they were away.
4. Why doesn’t the narrator tell us what words have been written on the wall? What earlier episode in the book does this recall? ----
5. Why does the family choose to sleep in the back room? What sort of things have happened to other people coming back from the camp? Who might be saying the words printed in italics on page 112? ----They wanted to sleep with their mother so they would feel safe; some people died during combat, while others got wounded and just came home; the neighbors
6. How quickly do the children and their mother adapt to freedom? What habits of their internment do they still cling to? ----Not so quickly; they still sleep all in the same room.
7. How do the family’s neighbors treat them on their return, and how does this compare to their behavior earlier? On the rare occasions that someone actually asks where they’ve been, why does the mother respond so vaguely? ----They do not act as if they’ve been away at all
8. How much money is the family given on its release? What is the significance of this sum? ---- twenty-five dollars; It was the same amount given to criminals on the day that they were released from prison.
9. How does the narrator describe the men coming back from the war? What do the fragments of dialogue tell us about them? What is the effect of these stories of Japanese atrocities? Does it lessen your sympathy for the family? How do these stories make the children feel? ---- The men coming back from war were praised with victory parades in their honor.
10. What measures do the children take to fit in following their return? How does their new behavior correspond to popular stereotypes of Japanese Americans? ----They didn’t say much to anyone and if they ever made a mistake they always apologized, no matter what it was for; Japanese were blamed for everything.
11. “If we did something wrong, we made sure to say excuse me (excuse me for looking at you, excuse me for sitting here, excuse me for coming back). If we did something terribly wrong we immediately said we were sorry (I’m sorry I touched your arm. I didn’t mean to, it was an accident, I didn’t see it resting there so quietly, so beautifully, so perfectly, so irresistibly, on the edge of the desk. I lost my balance and brushed against it by mistake, I was standing too close, I wasn’t watching where I was going, somebody pushed me from behind, I never wanted to touch you, I have always wanted to touch you, I will never touch you again, I promise, I swear…)” [pp. 122-23] Are these things the narrator is actually saying or only thinking? Who is being addressed? How does the emotional tone of the paragraph change as it progresses? --- These are things that the they would say if they ever thought that they did something wrong; It seems as if Japanese were in fault for everything.
12. Why do the children keep seeing their old possessions around the neighborhood, and why does their father appear among them? Are we meant to take this literally or as an ironic metaphor? In what ways does this passage echo earlier false sightings of the father? ----While they were away people took their things, because they thought that the people were not ever coming back.
13. Why does the mother take a job? What reason does she give for turning down the job in a department store? What does she say are the secrets of being a successful housecleaner? ----She needs to make more money to provide for her family; she refuses because She was afraid that she would offend herself because of who she was; the secrets are you just smile, say yes ma’am, no ma’am and do whatever you are told.
14. How does the narrator describe the father? How does this description compare to earlier ones? They see their father very different. They describe his face as wrinkled. His suit was faded and worn, his head was bare, he moved slowly with the aide of a cane; Their father that they remembered was handsome and strong. He used to read to them and draw for them.
15. How has the father changed during his incarceration? How do the children seem to feel about these changes? ----He seemed to always have something else on his mind. He wore the same loose baggy trousers everyday and was convinced that someone was watching the house; the children felt as if this wasn’t really their father.
16. Toward the end of this chapter Otsuka writes: “Speech was beginning to come back. In the school yard. On the street. They were calling out to us now. Not many of them, just a few. At first we pretended not to hear them, but after a while we could no longer resist.” Who is calling out? What is it that the narrators are unable to resist? Do you find this passage hopeful or ominous?----The neighbors; this passage is very hopeful.