Connections between "The Pacific Era has Arrived" and "Dear Miye"

"The Pacific Era has Arrived" by Eiichiro Azuma brought forth an argument on the Japanese government's intentions for Nisei from 1932-1941 I never expected. I don't know why I didn't expect it -- a country's true intentions, especially in a time of war, are always suspicious -- but I guess I never thought about while reading Dear Miye. However, while reading this essay, I noticed many claims that could relate to Mary's life and letters. Some include:

- Japan's Ministry of Education's 1932 directive that ordered Nisei to "be 'treated as Japanese citizens.'" probably had something to do with Mary's proclamations in one of her letters that said Japan welcomes foreigners. Seems here that Japan's propaganda is working on Mary...

- The essay stated that Waseda International Institute, one of the school's Mary attended while in Japan, was composed mostly of the "elite" Nisei. It is interesting to think of Mary, our beloved narrator (at least beloved by me) as an elitist. This forces me to see a different side of Mary, a side that points to the passages where she writes about how she's never been a victim of racial discrimination in America and her parents were farm owners. This puts me in a similar position as I felt while reading Bookseller when I begin to doubt the overall accuracy of these lifestyles because the stories I read about them contain people exempt from the majority.

- When I read that "a vast majority of students did not partake in the decision-making process" concerning their study in Japan, I immediately thought back to the wire Mary's parents sent her a wire telling her to stay in Japan. Mary was concerned about it for a few days, thinking something terrible had happened, when all along they just wanted her to stay to study more. I thought this was a rash and controlling move on Mary, since she states clearly in her previous letters, she wanted to go home.

Did you guys find any other connections?

Why Seierstad's bias doesn't matter

The objectivity of a journalist is hotly debated. Some argue a journalist should eliminate any bias someone may have in one of his or her stories, while others claim true objectively in humans is impossible. Asne Seierstad seems to take the latter side of the argument. Her book, The Bookseller of Kabul, fits into a unique genre: literary journalism. Though technically nonfiction, Bookseller tells the story of a family through third person omniscient point of view. Seierstad uses this genre to present a theme within her writing about an actual family. The genre is further contested because the book is told through her Western eyes about the life of an Eastern family. Because she takes this point of view, some see her position as ignorant to other cultures. However, because Seierstad writes using literary journalism, she tells her audience she knows she is biased and cannot escape it, and therefore doesn't try to.

In her forward, Seierstad claims the reason she wrote her book was because a family she met in Afghanistan "inspired [her]" (xv). Right away she tells her readers this is a novel, not a news article. Because she chooses to write the story in literary form, she shows readers this is her side of the story. In literature, there is no objectivity -- bias is assumed. Seierstad wants to comment on this family, which is why she chooses to write her story in that form. However, because what she writes about is technically a true story (or rather, a compilation of stories claimed to be true that no one can prove otherwise), calling Bookseller fiction is incorrect. Because of this, Seierstad is forced to call her work nonfiction. Though she tries to steer readers away from believing her work is a piece of journalism in her forward, her story is nevertheless judged as an inaccurate and biased news article.

The topic of Bookseller also brings Seierstad’s objectivity into the spotlight. Because she is a Caucasian woman writing about an Afghan family, her inaccuracies about the actual happenings of the family are highlighted and labeled as racist. In an article in The Los Angeles Times, Shah Muhammad Rais said Seierstad came to Afghanistan “with a picture already in her mind” (King). However, this is how writers operate. They have their own thoughts and ideas about life around them and they put on paper. Rais and other critics assume Seierstad’s bias as something she should have tried to avoid, though it is the journalistic aspect she doesn’t want in the story.

The journalist’s duty of objectivity is difficult to maintain. Asne Seierstad realizes it is something she does not want included in The Bookseller of Kabul. Instead, she twists ordinary journalism and makes it literature, where she knows she can write her opinion freely. However, because she wrote her story based on “true” events, the book must bear the burden of nonfiction, forever committing readers to misinterpret the author’s purpose for writing the story the way she did.

Works Cited

King, Laura. "The Bookseller of Kabul responds." Los Angeles Times 25 Feb 2009 1. Web.12 Apr 2009. .

Seierstad, Asne. The Bookseller of Kabul. New York: Back Bay Books, 2002. Print.

An introduction

Hello all, and welcome to my ENG 284 blog. My name is Melisa Michael. I am probably in only freshman in the class, but I know I am one of many journalism majors in English 284. My specialization is online. I took this course on an impulse. I was looking at possible courses and saw this class, fell in love, and rearranged my schedule to fit it. So far, I'm not disappointed.

Now, on to my blog.

Growing up as the daughter of a working mother, I've always been a feminist. But as a student in the second most diverse public school in northeastern Ohio, I've also been accepting of different ways of living. (It's Twinsburg, the school I went to, by the way. Our Vice Principal once stated my previous statistic during an announcement, but I cannot vouch on it's actual validity.)

So when I learned of the treatment of women in the Middle East, I was constrained. To me, the blatant sexism of the culture is unacceptable and intolerable. However, I knew it's a part of their culture and something Middle Eastern women have dealt with for generations. I assumed that, with a few exceptions, the women just put up with it and lived subservient to men.

By reading Bookseller, however, I see that this is not the case in modern Afghanistan. Though I am still outraged of the severe objectification of women in the country, I am proud to see many women are not subservient, and realize they have a right to live freely like men. My favorite feminist in the book is Bibi Gul. Even as an elder, she still is fervent to make sure Shakila is still able to work when she is married.

I picked Bibi as my favorite over, say Suhaila Seddiq, because even though she was courageous and strong for what she did, Bibi is making small progress in a country where many of it's inhabitants don't want to see change at all. I like her especially because she is elderly and from a generation one would not expect women to speak out. Bibi is a surprise feminist who cares not only about the rights of herself, but her fellow females.