Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family Study Guide & Plot Synopsis

Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family Plot Summary

Preview of Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family Summary:

Japanese-Americans have been part of United States' history for centuries. Early 20th century Japanese immigrants to the United States, the Issei, are important contributors to American life and built communities across the country, particularly in San Francisco. Their children, the Nisei or second-generation Japanese Americans grow up conceiving of themselves primarily as Americans, speaking English as their first language and seeking to fully merge into American culture. This is the nature of Japanese American life in the 1930s where Desert Exile begins its story.

The author, Yoshiko Uchida, and her family live in San Francisco. Her father, Dwight, and her mother, Iku are Issei immigrants, both of whom becomes familiar with American culture in Kyoto and are chosen as each other's spouses by American professors at Doshisha University in Japan. Dwight and Iku are both Christians and spend much of their lives as devout members of their local church. Yoshiko...
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