1a. What is the last thing Ruri's mother does before leaving?
2a. How does Ruri feel when she, her mother, and Keiko arrive at the Civil Control Station?
3a. How does Ruri react to the news that she and her family will be living in "Apartment 40"?
4a. What does Ruri do the whole time the family is in Tanforan?
1b. Why does she do this? What might she be thinking?
2b. Why does she feel this way?
3b. How do you think her mood changes when she sees the apartment?
4b. Why is this so important to her?
5a. Identify specific passages in the story that reveal the thoughts and emotions of the characters. Include passages that state how a character does not show emotion. When do characters show signs of hope? When do they show signs of not giving in to despair?
5b. Although "The Bracelet" is fictional, its plot is based on real historical events. During the war, Yoshiko Uchida's family also was split up and sent to internment camps. What is Uchida's message in this short story? What does she want readers to understand about memories, love, and friends and family?
6a. Why did so many Americans think sending people of Japanese ancestry to prison camp was the right thing to do? What logic and what emotions could have led them to do so? How do you think Laurie Madison and Mrs. Simpson view the event? Why might the Japanese-American people, such as Ruri's family, have gone without a fight?
6b. What do you think Ruri and her family would have done after the war? How would Laurie react to seeing her friend again? How would Ruri be the same or different?
Mood. Describe the mood created in this story. What specific details or descriptions does the author use to create that mood?
Symbol. What does the bracelet symbolize in this story? What other symbols did you identify? What do they represent?
1. Imagine that you are organizing a reunion of the families who stayed in Tanforan and Topaz. Design an announcement to send out to the former residents, one that focuses on positive aspects of the reunion.
2. Make a list of rules that might have been written by and for the Japanese Americans in the camp.
3. Write a conversation that Ruri's friend Laurie Madison might have with Denise O'Connor, the friend of the speaker in "In Response to Executive Order 9066," if the two ever had a chance to meet. What would Laurie say about Denise's treatment of her Japanese-American friend?
Looking at Primary Sources: Research Log. Use this log to keep track of the sources you use, the information you find, and your reactions to what you learn.
Book and print sources.
Internet sources.
Which person presented the most upbeat account of camp life? What did this person do to make camp life bearable? How did people share their grief, worries, and anger? How did they voice their hopes for the future?
Using Concrete and Abstract Nouns. In the sentence "The garden looked the way I felt: empty and lonely and abandoned," which is the concrete noun and which are the abstract nouns? In the sentence "In her sorrow, her face drooped like a wilted tulip," which is the concrete noun and which is the abstract noun? Write three sentences of your own, including at least one abstract noun and one concrete noun in each sentence.
1.
2.
3.
Example tsunami, a huge sea wave caused by a major disturbance such as an earthquake under an ocean
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
