The Eskimo Connection Characters

Emiko Toyama

In the story "The Eskimo Connection," Emiko is a Nisei poet and a widow living in Los Angeles in the 1970s. Emiko remembers living in one of the internment/relocation camps for Japanese Americans during World War II.

Emiko receives a letter from a young Eskimo prisoner, Alden, asking her to critique his essay. Emiko is self-deprecating and wonders what Alden and she could have in common. She is hesitant about making a connection with Alden but eventually decides to make a few suggestions and return the essay to him. This begins their two-year correspondence.

The entire story, while not written in a first-person point of view, is told through Emiko. She has a sense of humor but can sometimes appear to be a bit naïve. She does not want to know why Alden is in jail, preferring instead to create an image of his...