Gist Tracker: Farewell to Manzanar

Refer to the Reading Guide for page numbers and/or start and stop phrases.

Chapter Gist Statements

What is the gist? What is this section mostly about?

Foreword Jeanne Wakatsuki wanted to write a book to show the hard times in world war 2 at the concentration camps.
The internment of Japanese people. It is also about the chronological events in WW2. The quotes of the
misery of the Japanese people during internment.

1 The family leaves on the bus towards Pearl Harbor to do their fishing and commercial business. The American
Military and FBI agents capture the dad because he may have a connection to the Japanese military. Prior to
this, he had burned anything related to Hiroshima or Japan. The dad later returned after being charged with a
false “oil delivery to the Japan pilots”. Then it foreshadowed a sign of fright and terrible thing to come.

2 Jeanne talks about her home and her neighbors. They are not able to understand their languages and given
nicknames in Japanese. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the family had to keep moving for their safety and
losing many items on the way. To survive, mom decided to sell her china pot for no less than 200 dollars but
the buyer wouldn’t buy it for more than 75 dollars In anger and frustration, mom smashed many plates and
bowls. Then she describes the life at the camps in the barracks and how the food isn’t so great, and not
enough space to live.

3 This chapter is about Jeanne’s family getting to work and cleaning their shack or the small space that they live
in. They cleaned and fixed the sand that was coming in from the cracks and knotholes. Later, Mama was
concerned about their home but many memories were bring brought back by Woody acting like Papa.

4 This chapter is about the camps and the war department. Many people brought all the belonging they could
to the camps. There were many war items for the military at the camps. The authors describe it as they were a
band of Charlie Chaplin’s in the middle of the California desert. It was complete chaos at the camps. Many
became sick and others had to volunteer for their own survival. It was not a great place to be at the time.

5 This chapter is about how Jeane’s family falling apart at the beginning. They did not have meals together
anymore and rarely talk to one another. The text also said that Mama did not seem to care for anyone until
the night when she put Jeane to bed. Jeane also passed by the Catholic church and met new people. Near the
end of the chapter, Papa comes backs after 9 months and everyone is in tears. Papa did not look like Jeane’s
old Papa and was a changed man after those 9 months.

6 This chapter is about Papa’s history and past before he went to the camp. It was when he came to the US and
he learned new things. He tried many things such as farming, cooking, dentistry, lumber, and more. He had to
work 10 hours a day for 6 days a week to make money for himself in order to survive. Later he met Mama, and
they got married soon after. They had their children and Papa got his job at the coast in order to fish and sell
fish. Before the camps, life was happy for papa and it all seemed to change due to the mistreatments towards
Japanese Americans.

7 This chapter is about Papa’s life and story at the internment camp in North Dakota. He was interrogated to get
information about him Many of it was false and Papa stood up against it and questioned many of the officer’s
questions. In this chapter, we see a lot of conflict in Papa’s character for the well-being of his family.
 8 This chapter is about Papa’s life in the internment camp when he is back with his family. He has internal pain
and drinks often to stop the pain. Later in this chapter, Papa abuses Mama and gives threats to the whole
family. This is about Papa’s change in feelings after his life in North Dakota.

9 This chapter is about the Japanese people in the internment camps who revolted. They were not allowed to
be free until the end of the war. Then they attacked Fred Tayama, a friend of Japanese American citizenship.
Many revolted in attacking him again at the hospital and others went to free their imprisoned friends. This
ended badly as many were injured from police fire. This also showed the frustration of many Japanese
Americans at Manzanar.

10 This chapter is about the reservoir shack which is guarded at all times. Not much light goes into this shack and
can be very dark at times. 4 Japanese Americans then started toward the shack when they were met with the
Sergeant and Kaz who were guarding the shack and the internment camp. They were caught and told to
freeze as the others went to investigate. The reservoir crew was told to stand still because they had snuck out
of camp.

11 This chapter is about Papa’s decision to serve the US Military and serve loyalty to them. His decision is a yes to
serve in the military and to be loyal and help the US in this war against Japan. Jeanne later talks about her
Papa’s past and childhood and how he sang the National Anthem of Japan every morning. It was a patriotic
poem or song and had a deep meaning.

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