Kaitlyn Andrade 336E Spring 2020

They Called Us Enemy

George Takei’s novel They Called Us Enemy contains many important messages about racism in America, the rash actions taken during war, and the conflicting messages the United States government sent about democracy, but a message that greatly stood out to me was that radical actions invoke radical reactions. In demanding that Japanese citizens living in America indicate that they were willing to serve in the United States Army and requiring an oath of loyalty to the country, the government placed the Japanese living in the United States in an impossible situation. Because many Japanese citizens were not also American citizens, their lives in America were damned either way that they pledged- renounce Japan and be stateless, or renounce America and be subject to harsher imprisonment or deportation. Those that refused to indicate whether they would fight in the U.S. Army were sent to Leavenworth Prison, or in the case of the Takeis, Camp Tule Lake, where they were subject to even harsher treatment. The harsher treatment that the Japanese were forced to endure pushed many to become open supporters of the Japanese cause against America. The radical action taken by the government to require enlistment and a pledge of loyalty was unnecessary and ultimately caused a radical reaction of Japanese-Americans turning on America.

I enjoyed that Takei chose to tell his story in a graphic novel. Although the frames allow for fewer words than a typical novel, the art allows the reader to see for themselves the facial expressions of the characters. The sheer confusion, sadness, and anger portrayed in many of the frames did not require written words to make clear what the Takei was discussing. A strength of this graphic novel that I valued very much during the reading was that I knew I was getting close and honest depictions of the experiences and the camps. As readers, we trust that Takei would not allow art that falsely represented his experience to be in his novel. I truly do not find any weaknesses in presenting novels in graphic form, as long as they are done right, because it allows readers to more easily imagine the world they are reading about.