The work provides a consistent assessment of the Second World War’s vanity through the analysis of reports, which were recounted by the activist of the time. First, the story by the American-Japanese, Yuri Kochiyama, Then Came the War, recount’s the author’s personal experience of an immigrant, who was discriminated during the war, according to his ethnicity. Mainly, the writing describes the outbreak of military actions in the world and their influence on the citizens of the USA. Kochiyama represents the cruel arrest of his father, who was sick, which inflicted his death. Moreover, he dwells on the hardness of living in detention camps, which were allocated to the government for the purpose of keeping all Japanese in one place.
The recurrent stylistic coloring, which is given to the words “I was red, white, and blue,” reflects the central theme of the work (Zinn and Arnove 360). The author hints at racial diversity and discloses one of the most critical problems of the American culture – discrimination and inequality.
The terrifying detailed of the last years of the Second World War are described by the Japanese activist, Yamaoka Michiko, in the story Eight Hundred Meters from the Hypocenter. In this work, the author recollects the tragic incident of the USA military forces throwing a bomb on the Japanese district. The consequences, which were inflicted by the event, included hundreds of deaths as well as the complete destruction of multiple buildings. Michiko, who was a young girl, received some face injuries, which distorted her appearance. The author also claims that there was no help from the government of the country to the injured citizens. Therefore, the primary motif of the story concerns the idea that the Second World War introduced much hardness for the global citizens, for the individual authorities could not cope with the management of the situation.
The third story, which was provided by Gene, The Good War, reflects the opposition between the American government and Japan from the perspective of the U.S. Navy admiral. The author states that one of the major attacks of the Japanese occurred in Pearl Harbor, where the American was situated. The admiral recollects that the representatives of the U.S. military forces were extremely skeptic about the Japanese as the nation and a political leader. Therefore, the powerful bombing, which came from the side of Japan, was expected to be quickly neutralized. However, the assumption was faulty, for the attacking forces brought much damage to the U.S. Navy. In this context, Gene regards the issue of national identification and prejudice. He states that the Native Americans have always treated the other communities with inferiority. It was believed that the representatives of the white race could not be treated in the same way as the so-called “browned” Japanese. Therefore, the report certifies the idea of discrimination being one of the foundations of the military activities of America.
The issue, which unites all of the reviewed stories, is the problem of inequality. The writings provide a perfect description of the way, in which discrimination may influence military actions as well as initiate oppositions between the nations. The concern might be linked to some contemporary situations. For instance, racism proceeds to flourish in the settings of multiple American states. The experts argue that the huge gap between the U.N. Convention and the reality, which is faced by the residents of black districts, differs. Therefore, one may deduce that inequality is an eternal problem of the cross-cultural societies (Bhatnagar par. 3).
Works Cited
Bhatnagar, Chandra. The U.S. Record on Racial Discrimination is on the Whole World’s Agenda. 2014. Web.
Zinn, Howard and Anthony Arnove. Voices of a People’s History of the United States. 2nd ed. 2009. New York: Seven Stories Press. Print.