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Cindy Vargas

Professor Ditch

English 115

22 October 2019

The Effects of Transformation

Throughout life, human beings experience suffering and happiness. They enjoy the good

times but then we also go through some tough times. Some people use this suffering and

transform it into motivation to continue to live their best life. People relate to this every day but,

in the graphic novel, They Called Us Enemy, George Takei explains how he underwent suffering

but transformed it. This story takes place during the time of Executive Order 9066 took effect

after the Pearl Harbor attack. This order stated that all Japanese immigrants and Americans of

Japanese descent in the U.S. were to be sent to internment camps. Takei explains his time in the

internment camps, the challenges that his parents and he faced because of this action, and his life

after the war and how he was deeply affected by it. George Takei is formed through his suffering

because he uses it to drive him to become influential to others like him by becoming an activist

for Asian Americans, be determined to become better than the people who imprisoned him and

make a difference in society by proving to them that he could achieve anything which he did

when he landed the role in the new hit series, Star Trek, and used his platform to help the

community, and he also used it to show his resilience in overcoming his past.

Suffering has different effects on people because it changes their perspective on how they

view everything. In the article, “What Suffering Does” by David Brooks, he states that

“recovering from suffering is not like recovering from a disease. Many people don't come out

healed; they come out different” (287). They now have a different perspective on the world and
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how they view people because they understand more about challenges. Takei and his family

were imprisoned in the internment camps. His time there changed how he saw things and wanted

to do something to change it. He viewed things from a different perspective, and it pushed him

achieve great things. In the novel, after Takei received news of him playing the role of

Lieutenant Hikaru in a new hit series, Star Trek, he viewed it as an opportunity to represent his

heritage with honor to millions of people. This also gave him the platform “from which to

address many social causes that needs attention” (Takei 189). This platform aided him in his

pursuit to become not what they perceived him to be but someone better. He used it to do that

and become an activist for Asian Americans. His activism and influence are just one example of

how he was formed by his suffering.

In life, we experience visible, hidden, and invisible suffering. Visible suffering is evident

everywhere, hidden suffering is concealed beneath the appearance of pleasure and invisible

suffering is the hardest to distinguish because of the blindness of our own minds (Ricard 36). We

all have different experiences, and these go to show what we do about this pain we live with. In

Matthieu Ricard’s article, “The Alchemy of Suffering” he states that hidden suffering “may

potentially arise at any moment in life, but it remains hidden to those who are taken in by the

illusion of appearances and cling to the belief that people and things last”(36). Takei’s father was

experiencing this type of suffering because he was hiding his pain from his son. Both his parents

began hiding their pain when they were sent to the internment camps because they were forced to

be somewhere they did not want to be, but they did not want the kids to know that. They smiled

and laughed while the kids were around but inside, they were suffering. Years later after they

were back home, Takei worked in an office with helping a political campaign, his father would

be there to but as soon as he would hear that Eleanor Roosevelt was coming, he would smile and
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tell Takei that he wasn’t feeling well. He was covering up his hurt by smiling and telling his son

lies because he knew how happy he was to meet her, and he never wanted to ruin that moment.

In reality, Takei’s father did not want to see the wife of the man who imprisoned his family

(Takei 182). Takei realized this and understood what his father was feeling. His eyes opened to

many things that happened in the camps and after they were free, he knew everything his mother

and father did to make them happy that he didn’t realize before. He was determined to make a

change in this world for his family so they would not have to endure pain any longer. His actions

and persistence formed him to be the person he is today and allowed him to achieve everything

he has accomplished. He went on to become someone who people would admire and look up to.

Many unfortunate people experienced living in those internment camps. Some people had

a harder time in there than others because some people did not want to cooperate with what they

were telling to do. In an article, “Diary Paints life as an Internee” by Patricia Leigh Brown, she

speaks about an exhibit about the Japanese Internment camps stating, “The exhibition focuses on

the resilience and creativity that helped many detainees survive the forced removal from their

homes and jobs and the harsh conditions in remote camps that were ringed by sentry towers with

armed guards.” Being taken from their home to somewhere they have never been before and

being forced to lived there was traumatic. They went from living one day freely to being forced

to leave their homes, all because of their race, they were portrayed as the enemy. This event was

very traumatic and will live with them for the rest of their lives. They all suffered in the camps,

but it felt more like a prison because of the guards and the fence surrounding them. The people in

these camps joined together and made the best out of their situation. They tried to make it better

for the kids that were there. This made them become resilient because although they were scared

and feared that they will never return home, they all came together and united. They would not
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be teared down. Takei became resilient because he was a kid when they were put in these camps

and did not understand the actual situation. He grew up and later experienced the looks and

things people would say because of his race. He wanted to do research on what actually

happened during the time of Executive order 9066. He understood now that he lived through a

tough time, he was resilient and used this resilience to show that it will not bring him down. To

show his resilience, he starred in a musical called Fly Blackbird, which shined light on political

and social injustices. Since he experienced firsthand a political injustice, he knew this play was

just one way he could show he will not be teared down. He was determined to prove that

people’s actions effect everyone greatly and that we are so quick to judge.

During the time in the camps, many families were holding on to anything that showed

them not to lose hope, but they tried to make it an environment good for the kids. Takei was a

young boy when he was in the camps and he was at the age where learning is crucial but

although he lived through this poor situation, he was still determined to be a good student, this is

one example of how he was determined to be someone that they did not perceive him to be. In

the article, “School quality and educational attainment: Japanese American internment as a

natural experiment” by Martin Saavedra, he describes what education was like in the camps and

states, “The lack of adequate schools within the camps inevitably affected the schoolchildren's

attitude towards education and possibly steered them to careers that did not require as much

education.” Because of the lack of materials and resources they had in camps, these children

were not given a proper education which could affect their education and skills in the future.

After being released from the internment camps, people tried so hard to go back to what their life

was like before Pearl Harbor. Takei’s family moved back to Los Angeles and he began to go to

school again. After discovering the reality of their time in the camps, he became aware that
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people did not think he would succeed, but he proved them wrong. In the camps he was limited

to certain things like his education but after being free from the internment camps it did not stop

him from achieving big things. He went on to succeed in his education for example he attending

UCLA. He was determined to do the best he can as a person. He became involved in acting in

one of the most famous movies, Star Trek, he was involved in politics by helping a political

candidate with his campaign. He was involved more in his community then what most people do.

Nothing limited him.

Some might argue that Takei was just like any other person who lived through the

traumatic event of Executive Order 9066. He experienced what everyone who were at those

camps lived through and that everyone deals with trauma in different ways, but you can see that

he used his trauma in a more effective way that allowed him to be formed by his suffering. He

used it to become a voice for Asian Americans and told his story so that our country will be

reminded of mistake that cannot be erased. Takei wasn’t just like anyone else; he viewed his

story as something more. He viewed it as passage to something bigger. He began to have an

impact on society. Some people just view things differently and start doing things differently, but

he showed people that we can start doing things in society. These people were shown how fast

the world turned on them for something they did not do and were labeled as “the enemy”. They

did not let that label stop them from living their life in fact it encouraged them to be better than

the people who did it to them in the first place.

Suffering takes people and changes them in ways that are uncertain. Their perspective

changes and they see everything from a different point of view. George Takei saw everything

from a new perspective and saw that the world needs change. He used that suffering that he lived

with and transformed it in a way that he became an influential person for those who lived
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through the same thing and an advocate for Asian Americans in general. He told his story and

explained his perspective on how he saw things as a kid compared to how he saw them when he

grew up. He accomplished his goals and had a good career showing that he was determined to

show people that he was more than what they perceived him to be and show that he was resilient.

People suffer and go through tough times throughout their whole lives, but this suffering has a

great effect on how they are as a person. These people didn’t want to be what people though they

were, they were not the enemy, they were like every other person. They lived in the same world.

These were tough times, and everyone goes through those, but this was something that was

brought upon them. These people will never forget what happened this will stay with forever, but

they will use it as motivation to live on to find happiness.

Works Cited

Brooks, David. “What suffering Does”. Pursuing Happiness: A Bedford Spotlight Reader. Edited

by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, pp. 284-287.

Brown, Patricia Leigh. “Diary Paints Life as an Internee.” The New York Times, 2015, p. C1.

Ricard, Matthieu. “The Alchemy of Suffering”. Pursuing Happiness: A Bedford Spotlight

Reader. Edited by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, pp.

34-42.

Saavedra, Martin. “School Quality and Educational Attainment: Japanese American Internment

as a Natural Experiment.” Explorations in Economic History, vol. 57, 2015, pp. 59–78.

Takei, George. They Called Us Enemy. Top Shelf Productions, 2019.

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