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Ana P. Ries

Analysis of Picture Bride
Picture Bride, by Yoshiko Uchida, is a stunning attempt at retelling what those of Japanese decent had to suffer after the bombing of pearl harbor that set off WWII. After the bombing of pearl harbor by Japan, the already tense air in American against immigrants grew to such an extent that Executive Law 9066 was signed by President Roosevelt, which was an order that gave the War Department the right to relocate all those who immigrated from Japan to special concentration camps 'for their own good.' In Uchida's novel, she builds powerful characters that help her convey the tragedy through her remorseful tone, careful wording, and solid diction.
Throughout the whole novel, the tone that is conveyed is one of consistent remorse, and a broken hope. Every time an even happens, Uchida is careful to only describe the worst of the situation, and the heartbreak that her main character, Hana Omiya, endures. When she first lands on American and meets her future husband, she describes a sorry sight compared to the picture she was given, yet her thoughts consistently drift to depression lined by hollow hope, such as she frequently drift her thoughts back to what she thought life would be in the new world, or to situations where she looks back and sees how she was 'deceived.' At first she tires to fight back her depression through trying to see the better side of events, such as now she is independent, or that they at least owned a shop, that they could at least pay the bills. Yet she is very withdrawn, such as when Mary speaks English, a language she still struggles with, instead of fighting her troubles and mastering the language, or helping Mary learn it, she falls into isolation from her daughter and a feeling of self pity. "Hana had scarcely set foot in Mary's school and already she had embarrassed her. "I'm sorry," she said, and she held the bundle close to her chest, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible." Instead of standing up to her rude daughter at lashing out to her when she had gone so far to do such a favor for her, she instead switches to a timid self ball of fear. Another case of Hana's withdrawal, is after she was denied by her daughter to go and help with her pregnancy, "Hana put away her disappointment with her suitcase and decided to do housework four days a week instead of two. If her daughter did not want her help, there were plenty of white women in Oakland who did." (page 181) and this trait of burring pain behind work seems to be a common solution in this novel, "Kiku watched with the others until the bus disappeared. Then she walked slowly back to her block. She went directly to the mess hall to sign up for kitchen help. One of the cooks had been taken ill and they were in need of an extra hand. "Can you begin today?" they asked "I can begin right now," Kiku answered, and was promptly putto work washing rice for two hundred people in an enormous metal pot." (page 242) Their tone is never direct depression, just a numb acceptance, followed by a hollow mechanical action that will help in their struggle. The tone is never angry, just a gentle flow through out the novel to try and portray that there was nothing the Japanese could do, but go along and try to struggle to survive the harsh new life.
An authors wording is the most important part of any writing, and Uchida carefully uses that tool. She consistently uses simple, small words. Most likely Uchida uses simple words also to convey the lack of communication that they had seeing as they didn't speak the language and where struggling in it. Mainly though, Uchida uses simple languages to convey simple emotion that they felt and experienced. The novel was suppose to convey the simple struggle to be accepted, and nothing else, and they where pushed back, simply for who they where. Even while Hana described the death of her husband, her wordings was amazingly simple and detached. "Hana was aware of nothing except that Taro lay dying. He was so still, he seemed already to be slipping away. She felt someone raise her gently to a chair and felt a hand touch her shoulder. It was Kenji Nishima"(page 253) Even while she faced her dying husband, she keeps the moment simple. Instead of describing the situation as 'he lay there like the corpse he would soon be, still, silent, detached, almost unaware of the world around him that he was slowly being pulled away from.. never to return.." she simply said "He was so still," The wording portrays, once again, someone who just sits and watches the world go by, accepting it as it is in a depressingly calm manner. When describing the situation where their daughter ran away, all the pain of the situation was transferred through the simple lines "But we must have faith. Your husband has forgiven your daughter, hasn't he?" "Yes." "And you?" Hana lowered her head, because she couldn't not answer and walked away in silence." (page 177) Once again, instead of describing the pain of being abandoned by your own child, to just wake up one day and to see them gone, instead of ranting about the lose, the disappointment, the betrament.. She simply describes a scene where she doesnt talk and walks away to describe her sorrow.. Just like a third grader who hasn't yet learned the words for all the sorrow he has inside him, and who is still confused by the world around him and is forced to simply go along with it, so do the Japanese immigrants.
Commas are used frequently to drag out sentences in a minor manner, yet they are mostly used to finish sentences that Hana says. Usually when Hana is placed in an unhappy situation that she must reply in, she does so in about three words or less, and her sentence ends, not with a period to finalize it, but with a comma to emphasize her hesitation and lack of response and certainty in the situation. Let's refer back to the quote from the book where Mary
scolds her mother for doing her a favor. "Hana had scarcely set foot in Mary's school and already she had embarrassed her. "I'm sorry," she said, and she held the bundle close to her chest, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible." Instead of ending her sentence, she continues it with a comma, allowing the reader to picture a hesitant statement, once again drawing attention to Hana's timid personality, and the uncertainty that those who crossed to America felt.
Yoshiko Uchida cleverly kept the novel as simple as possible in order to convey the simple thoughts of the immigrants, along with her choppy writing helps to convey their confusion, and with her tone of consistent submition, her writing weaves in and out of each other to eventually tie together in Picture Bride to give readers a clear understanding of the situation that the Japanese immigrants had to suffer through.