How a Japanese Internment Camp Reminded Me of Literary Theory

Hey Steph,

So I'm trying to check off the last few places in Utah that I've not been to. Not terribly far away from where I live is the Topaz Internment Camp, where over 8,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II.

It was a sobering experience. There wasn't much left of the camp.

This is literally the only man-made part of the camp I saw.

The rest of the camp looked like this. 

As I walked around the dry landscape, I was reminded of a concept I learned back in my undergrad days as an English literature student. The concept relates to categories we have in perceiving the world: the Self and the Other. The Self references perceiving life through one's own experiences and perceptions. The Other references a group or concept outside of one's self; something alien or divergent from your experiences and perceptions. A running theme in literature is the Self learning to view the Other complexly and accepting the Other as part of the Self--that is, as similar to themselves.

For whatever reason, it seems that we humans have a long history with dealing with the Other poorly. The early Americans enslaved Black people because they were the Other. The Nazis imprisoned and killed the Jews for being the Other. Americans "relocated" Japanese Americans during World War II for being the Other.

And we still do it today. Far too many Americans fear all Muslims because Islamic extremists have terrorized Americans. There's far too much acidity in the words spoken by Democrats about Republicans. There's too much vilifying by Republicans of Democrats.

And we do this with individuals too. Someone hurts us, and our first response may be to focus in on this offense and remove the complexity of that person. She is thoughtless. He is a jerk. I would never say the things she said. I would never treat someone the way he treated me. Gone is a person that contains both good and bad attributes, leaving behind the Offender, the Other, someone without redeemable qualities.

Once we choose this lens of simplicity, it's hard to view people outside of that category that we have chosen for them. But I hope that we can choose to take a second look at those that hurt us, at those that scare us, at the Other, and reassess why people do what they do.

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known" (1 Cor. 13:12)

It's a challenge, but I hope we can put aside "childish things" and recognize that "for now we see through a glass, darkly." We cannot fully understand others. We don't see the inner workings of their hearts. We don't know their sorrows and pains. We don't know the reasoning behind their actions. I wonder if becoming "a man," as Paul wrote, has a bit to do with seeing the Self in the Other, even when the Other has attacked us or hurt us.  

Cheers,

Amanda Kae