In the chapter titled, "Records" Keiko wants nothing more than to buy a record for her friend Henry. Yet, when she attempts to pay for it at Rhodes Department store, the salesclerk refuses to ring up the sale, telling Keiko, "Then why don't you go back to your own neighborhood and buy it?"(pg 114)
After reading this chapter, walk in Keiko's shoes for a minute. How would you feel? How would you truly feel if you found yourself in a similar situation? What are your thoughts? Make sure your response is thorough and well thought out.
Reading Assignment: 103-118
Prompt Assigned: Tuesday, March 22
Prompt due: Tuesday, March 22
If I was in Keiko's shoes I would first off feel sad. The reason being is because it doesn't matter if you are Japanese, or Chinese, or African. Everybody is an American citizen. Everyone is the same. Next I would feel questioned. Why is the store clerk doing this? Why are the people doing this? It doesn't make any sense. We are all human beings. We are the same on the inside. My final emotion would be angry. Just because what your race is, is what you are. That shouldn't mean anything. None of this people getting taken away makes any sense.
ReplyDeletetsace12
If I was Keiko in the chapter titled "Records", and the cashier said that to me, I would feel dejected. I would feel like I was just put down greatly because of what I look like. My heart would sink for a moment after hearing that comment. I think if I was her, I wouldn't buy it from that store and try to find the same record at a different place that accepts Japanese people.
ReplyDeletelcpink30.
If I were Keiko in this situation I would feel abashed. I would feel this way because even in a store Keiko is ignored and not able to purchase a record. I would also have sympathy for the lady at the check-out counter because she says "-besides my husband is off fighting..." I think that it would be hard for the lady at the check out to have her husband fighting, and know that he might not make it home alive.
ReplyDelete-ampettyfer
If I was in the same situation Keiko was I would feel greatly disrespected and like someone put a hand in my face. Especially Since that was an adult, I would think adults would be more understanding and nicer, but the clerk wasn't. My face would get red and my knuckles white, much like Keiko's and I would have wanted to run away from that store. This is sortove off topic but I wanted to say that I liked Henry's thought Henry had as they were walking toward home and he though, "When the music played, it didn't make one lick of a difference if your last name was Abernathy or Anjou, Kung or Kobayashi. After all, they had the music to prove it.
ReplyDeletelfguns7
I would feel mad and sad. Mad because of the way they treated me but sad because i couldn't buy the gift for my friend.If I found myself in a similar situation I would tell sales clerk Hey, its fine with me i'll spend my money else were and maybe even call the manger.I think they would ring me up after I said that because great depression was around this time and I would think they would want or need money in there business. I thought that was rude of the sales clerk to not take Keiko sale just because she was Japeness.
ReplyDeleteKnsplash
I think I would be just as upset as Keiko was in that situation. She was an American citizen but because of her Japanese backround she was target to alot of abuse from not only kids, but adults also. This reminded me of when she had asked Henry if he was Chinese was dissapointed by the fact that he answered yes; she wanted people to realize that she was American, Henry was American, and that alot the Japanese people were American and thay should all be treated the same as any other American citizen of any other backround. It just goes to show how spiteful some of the people during that time were; they couldn't even sell a record to a little Japanese-American girl, they only let Henry buy it because he was Chinese.
ReplyDelete~CH.Lafandala
If I were Keiko in this situation, I would feel hurt and neglected. I would maybe even feel embarrassed because of how the clerk was treating me. Overall I would feel upset because I wasn't able to buy the record for Henry and I also would be mad at the clerk for not letting me buy the record from there because I was Japanese. I wold wonder why she whispered her statement to me instead of just saying it. I would also wonder why she wouldn't let me buy the record, I know because I'm Japanese, but was that it? Only because of my race?
ReplyDeletecichocothunder25
Well, I would feel the obvious…sad and furious. I mean, these people have no right to talk to Keiko that way. Whether her country bombed there’s or not. It’s not like she herself did it. If that were to happen to me I don’t think I would have enough self-control not to hit the person…okay maybe not hit them. But I would yell or talk back and probably get arrested or something, But, I think it would be worth it because I had stood up for myself.
ReplyDeleteHM Stormy97
If I were in Keiko's situation, I would feel like I don't even belong in thes world. I mean why bother even being here if everyone hates you and you can't even by your own record because your Japanese? Keiko stayed very strong during that time evn though she didn't feel strong, I would have probably ran out and cried my eyes out thinking I don't belong in this world, everyone hates me, so what's the point? That chapter really did bother me though thinking, like what is that were me? How would I feel? I would feel like I was just a plastic bag floating through the wind with no where to go, and not anyone caring I was there.
ReplyDeletems gemini11
If I was Keiko I would be furious with the sales clerk. She may be Japanese but do you really think she is part of the war? She obviously is not a spy or a traitor of any kind. She's a 6th grade girl who was born American. I would stay at the store and demand her to sell the record to me. I would say you can't not sell to me because of my race and I would like to speak to someone less ignorant.
ReplyDeleteahnighthawk!
I think that if I were Keiko, I would be very upset and hurt that someone would say something so rude to me and discriminating against me even I was born in America and my parents were born in America. I think that what the sales clerk said to Keiko was very rude and I can understand why Keiko was upset about that because I would be too. Also I think that seeing all the Japanese people from Bainbridge Island being taken away from their homes and businesses made her very afraid for her and her family and that is exactly how I would feel too if I were in that same situation.
ReplyDeleteabgolfer
At the end of this chapter, I was once again, taught about how cruel we were back then, how discriminative we were against our own kind, even if they did look different or have a bad reputation. If I were to be in Keiko's shoes, my reaction would most likely be similar to Keiko's, I would be frustrated, annoyed, and would feel like a measely pebble, kicked around, helpless and without say, no matter what they would say or do to me, no matter how much it hurt, they didn't care. People such as the lady at the counter, would look at Keiko and claim that I am Japenese, when really, she is no different than the lady at the counter, and every other american-born child is. I believe that even a person with a strong soul would eventually break down after all of the discrimination and insults thrown at them, no one can build a barrier that strong, for it will eventually break. I believe that the comment the lady at the counter made was down-right cruel and she obviously had no patience to even listen to Keiko, let alone Henry. I certainly hope that Keiko will pull through all of these insults and false accusations and become a stronger girl because of it.
ReplyDeletelclorenzo5
During the chapter "Records" we are shown once again how it is in the nature of the human race to use anything we can to discriminate against someone else just to make ourselves feel better - such as the lady at the counter bullies Keiko to make herself feel better about her husband being at war, or the way the soldiers force the Japanese living on the island to evacuate to make themselves feel more powerful. Sometimes, for the ones who are being picked on to make others feel better, life seems to hit rock bottom, then go lower. But you have to just grin and bear it, because some day every evil thing that person or persons do(es) will come back to them.
ReplyDeletemjaphrodite20
I think that, if I was Keiko, I would feel bummed that a small little thing like that would spoil the joy of buying the record.
ReplyDeleteBut also, I would not neccesarily say that she was skipped over in line because of her ethnicity. I think it very reasonable that a small kid might be forgotten when an adult is right there, or that maybe the clerk thought that they were "just looking".
Also, there it only says that the clerk's husband is fighting. It does not say where. He may have been stuck in Gaudalcanal trying to destroy the Japanese garrison there. He may also have been based in England to help the RAF bomb Germany. He could have been in North Africa pushing the Afrika Korps into the Meditteranean Sea. As I said, its not reasonable to jump to any conclusions.
-mbjohann72