The Question of Loyalty

I just wanted to explain why I chose the poem I selected for my oral report. I didn't really have a lot of time in class because we got into groups and then moved on to the movie, so I figured the blog would be a great spot to do this. I chose this poem because I understand a lot of history through poetry.  I am an English Adolescent Education Major so I don't really deal with history is this the "historical sense" so to speak. I encounter history through novels, diaries, and poems.  When I found "The Question of Loyalty" I realized that this poem spoke out to me more than an other of Yamada's poems because it was plain and simple.  It was telling a story of the different generations and how they dealt with the interment camps.  The Japanese Americans were forced into the camps and once there everyone was registered.  Though many of these people had been American citizens for some time now they were still considered to be aliens who the U.S. couldn't trust not to spy on them and their war efforts.  I find this rather ironic seeing as some of the people put into these camps were then put into our military.  If they were so worried about them being spies why would they put these people into the military rather than keeping them as far away from it as possible?  They were made to sign an oath to foreswear their allegiance to Japan and then would be let free, but this wasn't as easy for Yamada's mother as it was for her.  Since her mother had grown up in Japan, it had shaped who she was, it was her identity.  She didn't want to just say sure I'll give up my Japanese identity and say ill deny any allegiance to that country.  Though she didn't want to, her mother eventually signed the oath in order to be with her children who by then had already had their father ripped away from them when he was arrested because officials accused him of spying.  This poem shows the life of a family during this time. Personal problems that happen to people throughout a historical even show me more than any text book ever could.