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Native Americans of Puget Sound
“Archaeologists believe that the ancestors of today's Native Americans came to North America from Siberia, entering the Puget Sound...” (historylink.org) “The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company and the Puget Sound Power and Light Company indicated steps” (Guterson 356). Guterson uses imagery to depict that they are in the future way past the ancestors of the natives of Puget by showing there’s companies named after puget. Photo by (historylink.org) -
European Settlers of Puget Sound
“Only a few hundred white settlers occupied Puget Sound when the treaties were concluded.”(Historylink.org) “Arthur, the youngest, was the only one to remain on Puget. Two of his brothers became mercenary soldiers, one died of malaria on the Panama Canal, one became a surveyor in Burma and India, and the last made tracks for the eastern seaboard at seventeen, never to be heard from”(Guterson 67). Guterson uses imagery to show how it was be a white settler in Puget Sound.
Pic by (olympiawa.gov) -
Alien Land Laws
“California, along with many other western states, enacted laws that banned "aliens ineligible for citizenship" from owning or leasing land.” (Immigrationhistory.org) “The Japanese man had asked about the land then, and asserted his wish to buy the seven acres his family had once held.” (Guterson 297) Guterson uses imagery to show how the Japanese were buying land because it was their only way to be able to hostile to the whites in the least threatening way. Photo from (nbcnews.com) -
Dear John Letter
”A “Dear John” letter is a letter that a woman writes to either her husband or her boyfriend when she wants to tell him that she wants to end their relationship“ (1940’s.org).
“Now she stood with this letter in her hand—a letter a hakujin boy had sent to her daughter about love inside a cedar tree, about his loneliness and misery and how horribly he missed her” (Guterson 446).
Guterson uses irony to show even though women are supposed to send the letter, the boy sent it instead.
PB (nww2m.com) -
Pearl Harbor
“Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941.” (history.com) “They were loaded onto a ship while their white neighbors looked on, people who had risen early to stand in the cold and watch this exorcising of the Japanese from their midst” (Guterson 158) Guterson uses imagery to illustrate how white people felt towards the Japanese during this time. Picture from (history.com) -
Military recruitment and propaganda during World War II
“When Britain and France went to war with Germany in 1939, Americans were divided over whether to join the war effort.” (History.com) “It was all propaganda, added Ishmael. They wanted us to be able to kill them with no remorse, to make them less than people”(Guterson 481) Guterson uses imagery to show that during the war they wanted the soldiers to kill their enemy like they were not human. Picture from (History.com) -
Japanese American Internment
“Japanese internment camps were established during World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt through his Executive Order 9066.”(History.com) “ten squads composed of Nisei boys, so that he found himself in the midst of a hundred Japanese faces while he explained the particulars of the bayonet,”(Guterson 558). Guterson uses imagery to depict the life inside of internment camps. Photo from (History.com) -
Battle of Normandy
“During World War II, the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control.” “Ishmael could hear the whistling of shells now distantly across the water” (Guterson 478) Guterson uses imagery to show the images of what it would be like to be out in the water during the times of this battle. Photo by (britannica.com) -
Battle of Okinawa
“On April 1, 1945...the Navy’s Fifth Fleet and more than 180,000 U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps troops descended on the Pacific island of Okinawa for a final push towards Japan.” (History.com) “Carl Heine, a man who had endured the sinking of the Canton and who, like Horace himself, had survived Okinawa only to die, it now appeared, in a boat accident.” (Guterson 97). Guterson uses irony to show that though Carl survived a horrendous battle on Okinawa he still died. Photo by (britannica.com) -
Pearl Harbor Memorial
“The Pearl Harbor National Memorial and its partners preserve, interpret, and commemorate the history of World War II in the Pacific from the events leading to the...attack on Oah'u...” (nps.gov) “He announced that on New Year’s Eve a public dance would be held under the slogan “Remember Pearl Harbor—It Could Happen Here!” (Guterson 372) Guterson uses irony here because it shows that people are celebrating Pearl Harbor but the memorial is to remember those that have passed. Photo by (nps.gov)