“Scene of barrack homes at Manzanar,” by Dorothea Lange (Public Domain)

Essay Writing Prompt: Farewell to Manzanar is a true memoir that describes one family’s experience in a Japanese American Internment Camp during WWII. What can we as readers learn from this story? In at least a five-paragraph essay, describe a theme (lesson, message) that this memoir reveals. Connect this theme to at least two other sources (article, film or poem) with a recurring message. Include textual evidence to back up your ideas.

Handouts and Writing Resources:

1. Farewell to Manzanar Essay Criteria
2. Farewell to Manzanar Tree Map or Persuasion Map
3. MLA Typing Guidelines

Online Resources:

• Farewell to Manzanar (Sparknotes)
• American Pastime (2007, IMDB)
• “Remembering the No-No Boys” (About.com)
• “Silence No More” (Kiku Funabiki)
• “George Takei Debuts on Broadway in ‘Allegiance'” (NPR)
• “Japanese Internment in America” (History Channel)
• “Japanese Relocation” (U.S. Office of War Information)
• “One Man Seeks Justice: Fred Korematsu v. United States” (Asian Americans Advancing Justice)
• “A Message from Karen Korematsu” (Korematsu Institute)
• “Korematsu and Civil Liberties” (Annenberg Classroom)
• “Pilgrimage” (Tadashi Nakamura)