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Stubborn Twig ( Lauren Kessler)

This paper is an examination of Lauren Kessler's Stubborn Twig, a chronicle of three generations of a Japanese American family that provides fascinating personal examples of the experience that most Japanese immigrants underwent in coming to America. Masuo Yasui arrived in the United States to help build the railroads in the American West. He stayed to found a large family and a successful business enterprise. His nine children were all American citizens by virtue of their birthplace, but Masuo could not legally take the oath of citizenship until long after he had made enormous sacrifices for his adopted country. World War II was a severe test of the commitment of Masuo's family to the privilege and challenge of being American. Masuo's grandchildren spent their childhoods focused on becoming as completely Americanized as their distinctively Asian facial features would allow them, stopping only to examine their own heritage and family history after they became adults. Stubborn Twig provides a remarkable, moving account of each generation's struggle for security and identity.

Until the middle of the 19th century, Japan was an insular society, closed to outsiders and trying to remain isolated. When Commodore Matthew Perry finally forced the empire to open trade with the West, Japan began to allow a few of its citizens to travel abroad. The first Japanese immigrants to arrive in the United States had no intention of remaining, once they had earned some money and gotten a taste of foreign lands, but, by the turn of the century, some were starting to consider permanent relocation.

As the third son in his family, Masuo Yasui had no strong reasons to want to return to Japan; the first-born son traditionally inherited all the family wealth, leaving subsequent sons to seek their own fortunes. Masuo saw his opportunity in America. He earned a small stake, then persuaded his brother Renichi, the second son, to go into business wi...

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Stubborn Twig ( Lauren Kessler). (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 07:13, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1689799.html