English & Literature

On pages 81- 108 of “They Called Us Enemy" by George Takei summarize the story in this chunk. What happened? Describe the setting and place/time

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In this section, George recounts some childhood activities that occurred at Camp Rohwer. Some of the children played “War” (82), a game that involved a child pretending to be an American soldier chasing another child pretending to be a Japanese soldier. He also remembers two older boys, brothers named Ford and Chevy, playing a trick on him. They told him if he went to the guard tower and shouted the “magic word” (84), the guards would give him whatever he wanted. The magic word was “Sakana Beach” (85). George went to the guard tower and yelled this phrase as instructed, but the guards only got angry and chased him off. He realized much later that “Sakana Beach” sounds like “Son of a bitch,” and the older boys were trying to get him in trouble.

Because of his position of authority, Takekuma was permitted to borrow the camp's Jeep for an afternoon outing, and he took his family to a nearby farm, where George saw a hog for the first time. Remembering what the other boy had told him when he first arrived at camp, George first thought it was a dinosaur. It was a pleasant trip, and George remembers it fondly. When winter came, George was delighted to see snow for the first time. On Christmas Eve, he was told Santa would be visiting the children. When he came, George knew it was not the “real” (107), whom he had seen the year before at a mall, because this Santa was Japanese. Nevertheless, he did not tell the other children about his suspicions.

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