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Short Story Analysis Title: The Bracelet Author: Yoshiko Uchida Setting Time: World War II, April

21, 1942 Place: the family home in Berkely, CA; the Congregational Church (Civil Control Station); the Tanforan Racetracks (camp) Protagonist: Ruri, a 12-13 year old girl of Japanese descent Conflict: Ruris confusion and sadness about being forced into a concentration camp Man versus Man Antagonist: The U.S government and American feelings of fear and mistrust following the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan Rising Action: (there are about3 events leading up to the climax) 1. Ruri, her mother, and sister are forced to leave their home by the government; Ruri is upset and crying; her father is already at a camp in Montana 2. Laurie, Ruris best friend and neighbor, brings her a gold bracelet with a heart as a token of friendship; Ruri promises never to take it off 3. A neighbor drives Ruris family to a church; they are then sent to a racetrack that has been transformed into a camp to house the Japanese Americans; it is actually a horse barn, and her family will live in a horse stall Climax: Ruri realizes she has lost her bracelet Falling Action: (there are about 2 events) 1. Ruri looks for the bracelet until it got dark, and continues to look every day until the family is sent to another camp 2. She never finds it Resolution: Ruris mother helps her to realize that the people she loves are carried in her heart, and she doesnt need things to help her remember Theme: We can never truly lose the important things we carry in our hearts.Point of View: 1 st Person/ the story uses I to tell Ruris story

Summary The Bracelet


Posted on February 23, 2011

Ruri and her family lived in California, in Berkeley. One day it was almost to leave Ruris home, because the United States and Japan were at war, every Japanese person was being evacuated by the government to a concentration camp. It was April 21, 1942. Ruri, her sister Keiko and her Mama were being sent from her home, and out of Berkeley, and eventually, out of California. The doorbell rang, and she ran to answer it before her sister could. She thought maybe by some miracle, a messenger would have a telegram from her Papa, who was interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Montana because he had worked for a Japanese business firm. When she opened the door it wasnt a messenger from anywhere. It was Ruris best friend, Laurie Madison, from next door. She was holding a package wrapped up like a birthday present, but

she wasnt wearing her party dress. She came to say goodbye. The present was a bracelet. She knew Ruri didnt have one inch of space left in her suitcase. Mama had told them that they could each take only two suitcases. Laurie wanted to open her package and put on the bracelet before she left. It was a thin gold chain with a heart dangling on it. Then Laurie said Well, goodbye then, come home soon. Ruri said I will, although she didnt know if she would ever get back to Berkeley again. The next time the doorbell rang, it was Mrs Sipmson, their other neighboor. Then it was time to go. It was a warm day. Every Japanese family had to register and get a number. They were family Number 13453. Then Mrs Simpson took them to the Civil Control Station. There must have been over a thousand Japanese people gathered at the church. There were fourteen other campus like theirs along the West Coast. Most of them were citizens because they had been born there. But their parents,who had come from Japan, couldnt become citizens because there was a law that prevented any Asian from becoming a citizen. Then they streamed off the buses and poured into a huge room, where doctors looked down our throats and peeled back our eyelids to see if they had any diseases. The man in charge gave Mama a slip of paper. They were in Barrack 16, Apartment 40. Then they walked down the racetrack looking for Barrack 16. Mr Noma, a friend of Papas, helped them carry their bags. They came to a long stable that had once housed the horses of Tanforan, and they climped up the wide ramp, and when they got to 40, Mr Noma pushed the door, and said Apartment 40, it is here. There was their apartment, and it still smelled of horses. Then Ruri noticed her bracelet was gone. She had lost Lauries bracelet. My bracelets gone! she screamed. They looked all over the stall and even down the ramp. She wanted to run back down the track and go over every inch of ground, but it was getting dark and Mama wouldnt let her. She thought of what shed promised Laurie. She had lost bracelet on her first day in camp. She wanted to cry. But Mama told her never mind. She said she didnt need a bracelet to remember Laurie, just as she didnt need anything to remember Papa or their home in Berkeley or all the people and things they loved and had left behind.

Those are things we can carry in our hearts and take with us no matter where we are sent, Ruris Mama said. And Ruri guess her Mama was right. She has never forgotten Laurie, even now
The Bracelet is a story of a seven-year-old Japanese-American girl, Emi, who understands the significance of her memories of her life before the internment camps. The story focuses on the preparation for the immediate relocation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps. Before Emi leaves, she receives a bracelet from her best friend, Laurie Madison, as a good-bye present and memory. On the first day in the camp, Emi realizes she lost the bracelet; as she searches for it, she is reminded of the injustice of what is happening to all Japanese-American but most importantly, she understands the power of her memory as a means of survival. The Bracelet highlights a young girls resistance to be confined, enclosed, and stripped of her life; instead, it displays her love for her life, family, and friends. It also unlocks the power of memory as a way for Emi to remember all the good things in her life so far. This book is suitable for elementary school students who are struggling with sad memories of the past. This story is about a Japanese girl named Emi and her family. It takes place during WWII. Her and her family are forced to relocate to a prison camp. She is very sad and tries to remember how everything looks in her house because she will miss it. Her best friend gives her a bracelet before she leaves. Unfortunately, she looses the bracelet. Her mother comforts her by telling her that she does not need photos or gifts to remember. The pictures she keeps in her mind is all that she needs and that she can take those anywhere. I thought that this was a very sad story. It makes me angry at what the government had done to the Japanese people during that time. It was enlightening to get a point of view from a small girl about a historic event like that. The story does not describe much about the war, however, it does give the emotion of the effects it had on Japanese families.

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