1. Why does Koichi wish to go off to battle, probably to die, as his brother has?

2. Why does Koichi refrain from asking his father about the secret plan?

3. What is the most significant adjustment the Japanese colonists make when they come to California?

4. Why do the Native Americans help the colonists?

5. In the seventh chapter, "The Silent Cellar," Koichi gives Toyoko an order, and Uchida notes: "Toyoko nodded obediently. Just as her mother did whatever her father asked, she knew that it was her place to listen to Koichi.

He was older, and besides that he was a boy. That put him at least two notches above her in their small world, and she knew it." How do Toyoko's views about gender roles change during the novel?

Why do they change? How liberated is she at the novel's end? Do you think she will...