Mama Character Analysis in Farewell to Manzanar

Riku Wakatsuiki, Jeanne’s mother. Reserved and demure, Mama fulfills the ideal of traditional Japanese womanhood in many ways: she runs an efficient household, gives birth to many children, and supports her husband’s wild schemes and career changes. However, Mama also knows her own mind. Her decision to elope with Papa rather than marry a wealthy farmer shows her independence, and rather than sell her precious china to an unscrupulous secondhand dealer, Mama smashes it all on the street. During internment, Mama’s adherence to traditional norms becomes a sign of her strength. It allows her to maintain her dignity when circumstances seem designed to strip it away. At Manzanar, Mama wears a homemade sunhat as she trudges to and from work, and upon returning to California, she dresses carefully and wears make-up to her menial job at a cannery. These rituals are both a mechanism for maintaining her own dignity and something that steadies the rest of the family, especially Jeanne. However, Mama’s resolute acceptance of whatever happens to the family prevents her from discussing, or helping Jeanne to understand, the traumatic experience of internment. By eventually writing a memoir, Jeanne both valorizes her mother’s behavior and rejects her methods for coping with suffering.

Mama Quotes in Farewell to Manzanar

The Farewell to Manzanar quotes below are all either spoken by Mama or refer to Mama. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Mama took out another dinner plate and hurled it at the floor, then another and another, never moving, never opening her mouth, just quivering and glaring at the retreating dealer, with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Related Characters: Jeanne (speaker), Mama, Papa

Page Number and Citation: 13

Explanation and Analysis:

After Papa’s arrest, Mama has to prepare the remainder of the family for its second government-mandated move. She’s already stressed and cognizant of the unjust treatment they’re receiving, and on top of everything unscrupulous secondhand dealers have descended on the neighborhood knowing that families who can’t take possessions with them will sell them cheaply. Mama is prepared to part with her beloved tableware in order to have extra money for her family, but she’s not willing to take the humiliatingly low price she’s offered—instead, she smashes all her plates on the ground. While this may seem like a gesture of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus

[Mama] would quickly subordinate her own desires to those of the family or those of the community, because she knew cooperation was the only way to survive. At the same time she placed a premium on personal privacy, respected it in others and insisted upon it for herself. Almost everyone at Manzanar had inherited this pair of traits from the generations before them who had learned to live in a small, crowded country like Japan. Because of the first they were able to take a desolate stretch of wasteland and gradually make it livable. But the entire situation there, especially in the beginning … was an open insult to that other, private self, a slap in the face you were powerless to challenge.

Related Characters: Jeanne (speaker), Mama, Papa

Page Number and Citation: 30

Explanation and Analysis:

After retelling her first experience with the messy open latrines on Manzanar, Jeanne reflects on the way that older women like Mama learned to handle the indignities of camp life. She traces their commitment to the community and their desire for privacy to their Japanese heritage, showing how much that culture continues to influence them even after they’ve made lives in America. In fact, it’s their Japanese heritage that enables the internees to survive the challenges they face as immigrants in a racist American society; their sense of community drives them to build schools, public services, and parks in Manzanar, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque o

My own family, after three years of mess hall living, collapsed as an integrated unit. Whatever dignity or feeling of filial strength we may have known before December 1941 was lost, and we did not recover it until many years after the war …

Related Characters: Jeanne (speaker), Papa, Mama

Page Number and Citation: 33

Explanation and Analysis:

As internment looms, the Wakatsukis draw closer together, affirming their close bond by managing to be sent to the same camp, Manzanar, and working together to improve their shoddy barracks. However, the strange circumstances of camp life quickly drive the family apart. Jeanne soon learns to eat with her friends instead of her family unit, and because the barracks are crowded and cold, she has no stable home to retreat to. Meanwhile, Mama is too anxious to provide the care and attention that Jeanne needs. Thus, although internment keeps family members in close physical proximity, it widens the emotional distances Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium r

But as badly as he wanted us to believe it, he never did finish law school. Who knows why? He was terribly proud, sometimes absurdly proud, and he refused to defer to any man. Maybe … he saw ahead of him prejudices he refused to swallow, humiliations he refused to bear.

Related Characters: Jeanne (speaker), Mama, Papa

Page Number and Citation: 49

Explanation and Analysis:

As Jeanne reconstructs the story of Papa’s youth, she says that while he always brags about having gone to university, he never actually finished; contrary to his original hopes, he hasn’t become a lawyer. For Papa, even economic success and stability isn’t worth the possibility of encountering humiliation; his emphasis on personal pride is one of the reasons internment takes such a toll on him. This characteristic sets him in contrast to Mama, who generally puts practical concerns above all else. For example, she wants Jeanne to be accepted in her high school even though she doesn’t quite approve of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut

He was not a great man. He wasn’t even a very successful man. He was a poser, a braggart, and a tyrant. But he had held onto his self-respect, he dreamed grand dreams, and he could work well at any task he turned his hand to …

Related Characters: Jeanne (speaker), Mama, Papa

Page Number and Citation: 52

Explanation and Analysis:

Jeanne devotes much of her memoir to evoking Papa’s complex character, and her complex relationship to him. Jeanne rarely expresses unqualified affection for Papa; she’s often frustrated with his destructive and abusive behavior, and unlike Mama or even Woody she openly defies him and flouts his wishes. However, the qualities that set her in opposition to him—her independent spirit and determination to get her own way—are the very things she’s inherited from him. By parsing Papa’s flaws, she’s able to come to terms with her own character and embrace it. In straightforward descriptions like this one, Papa’s faults loom large, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibu

There had always been doors to keep some moments private. Here there were no doors. Nothing was private. And tonight [Papa] was far too serious—he seemed to have reached some final limit.

Related Characters: Jeanne (speaker), Mama, Kiyo, Papa

Page Number and Citation: 63

Explanation and Analysis:

After Papa arrives at Manzanar, family life quickly becomes volatile and stressful. Imprisonment at Fort Lincoln has plunged him into depression and alcoholism, and he vents his feelings by drinking to excess and abusing Mama. Jeanne notes that, under normal circumstance, marital strife or personal crises might be resolved without the dramatic fights that occur here; lack of privacy at Manzanar is not just an inconvenience but something that seriously contributes to the breakdown of family life, by denying them any individual privacy. It’s notable that this scene ends with Kiyo punching Papa in the nose, a further step in Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Volupt

I was proud of Kiyo and afraid for what would happen to him; but deeper than that, I felt the miserable sense of loss that comes when the center has collapsed and everything seems to be flying apart around you.

Related Characters: Jeanne (speaker), Papa, Mama, Kiyo

Page Number and Citation: 64

Explanation and Analysis:

In an alcohol-fueled rage, Papa threatens to kill Mama, and Mama seems unable and unwilling to resist him. This crisis only ends when Kiyo jumps out of bed and punches Papa in the nose. Before internment, Papa was a strong patriarch who always took responsibility for his family. Now, not only has it fallen to his son to protect Mama’s physical safety, but Kiyo also has to defy and fight his father to do so. Kiyo’s action is a major turning point marking Papa’s fall from his previous role. Although the family dynamic will soften eventually, Papa will never return Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Volupt

Three years of wartime propaganda—racist headlines, atrocity movies, hate slogans, and fright-mask posters—had turned the Japanese face into something despicable and grotesque. Mama and Papa knew this. They had been reading the papers. Even I knew this, although it was not until many years later that I realized how bad things actually were.

Related Characters: Jeanne (speaker), Papa, Mama

Page Number and Citation: 115

Explanation and Analysis:

As the war draws to a close, the Supreme Court declares internment unconstitutional and the government decides it’s pointless to imprison citizens who have shown no real signs of disloyalty. However, by this time Manzanar has become a safe refuge from the racism and xenophobia which has gripped popular imagination and been encouraged by public insitutions and official propaganda. Paradoxically, as Manzanar grows tolerable and pleasant to Jeanne, the outside world grows more frightening. Through this shift, the novel shows that internment’s most major effect is fanning the flames of racism and creating a hostile climate towards Japanese-Americans that will Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim

The physical violence didn’t trouble me. Somehow I didn’t quite believe that, or didn’t want to believe such things could happen to us. It was the humiliation. That continuous, unnamed ache I had been living with was precise and definable now. Call it the foretaste of being hated … At ten I saw that coming, like a judge’s sentence, and I would have stayed inside the camp forever rather than step outside and face such a moment.

Related Characters: Jeanne (speaker), Papa, Mama

Related Symbols: Barbed Wire

Page Number and Citation: 115

Explanation and Analysis:

By the time Jeanne leaves Manzanar, she doesn’t even know what the outside world will be like— she’s lived here so long most of her memories take place within the barbed wire fence. However, her parents’ anxious discussions have given her a hint of the prejudice she’ll suffer as she resumes life in California. It’s interesting that, just as Papa foregoes law school because of the possibility of humiliation, Jeanne doesn’t think the re-entering mainstream society is worth the prospect of being shamed. Her reaction to leaving Manzanar is one of many moments showing her similarity to Papa, although she Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore.

I couldn’t understand why [Papa] was home all day, when Mama had to go out working. I was ashamed of him for that and, in a deeper way, for being what had led to our imprisonment, that is, for being so unalterably Japanese. I would not bring my friends home for fear of what he would say or do.

Related Characters: Jeanne (speaker), Papa, Mama

Page Number and Citation: 149

Explanation and Analysis:

As the Wakatsukis struggle to adapt to life after internment, Jeanne becomes more and more frustrated with Papa’s eccentricities. Besides wanting him to return to the comforting and paternal role he held before the war, she wants him to conform to a rigid conception of how an American man should act—just as she herself tries to act exactly the way an American teenager “should.” In a way, she’s projecting her own desires for acceptance, and her fear that such acceptance is unattainable, onto Papa. As such, her anger reflects her own fear rather than an actual grievance. It’s easier for Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntu

He was unforgivably a foreigner then, foreign to them, foreign to me, foreign to everyone but Mama, who sat next to him smiling with pleased modesty. Twelve years old at the time, I wanted to scream. I wanted to slide out of sight under the table and dissolve.

Related Characters: Jeanne (speaker), Papa, Mama

Page Number and Citation: 151

Explanation and Analysis:

At the end of Jeanne’s time at middle school, she’s excited to participate in a dinner honoring the most excellent students. While Papa refuses to watch her perform as a majorette, he is truly proud of her academic achievements. Jeanne hopes that this moment will mark both acceptance at school, where she finally seems valued, and reconciliation at home, where she feels increasingly alienated from her parents. Papa’s action unwittingly ruins both of these hopes. He points out Jeanne’s Japanese heritage to her schoolmates, while she’s been trying as hard as possible to fit into Anglo-American society. He also reminds Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provid

Mama Character Timeline in Farewell to Manzanar

The timeline below shows where the character Mama appears in Farewell to Manzanar. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...the first weekend of December 1941, Jeanne Wakatsuki has just turned seven. She’s with her Mama and her sisters at the wharf near her house, watching the fishing boats get ready... (full context)

...each other they always set sail together and share their nets. Standing at the harbor, Mama, Billy and Woody’s wives, and Jeanne wave goodbye. They don’t know exactly when the men... (full context)

...the dock and shouts that the Japanese have just bombed Pearl Harbor. Neither Chizu nor Mama know what Pearl Harbor is, but the employee is running down the docks “like Paul... (full context)

...paper accusing him of delivering oil to Japanese submarines with his boat. The accusation makes Mama burst into tears and Jeanne hugs her legs, not understanding what’s going on. (full context)

...so that he couldn’t be “labeled or grouped” by his race. However, after Papa’s arrest Mama moves the family to Terminal Island; Woody and one of Jeanne’s older sisters already live... (full context)

...to the cannery to process the catch, even if it’s the middle of the night. Mama and Chizu start working in the cannery in order to provide for the family in... (full context)

...“dangerous” to allow Asians to live so near the water and the nearby naval base. Mama knows something like this is coming, but she can’t prepare because she doesn’t know where... (full context)

...the neighborhood, offering ridiculously low prices for goods that the families can’t carry with them. Mama has brought only her most valuable things to Terminal Island: pottery, treasured tableware, and kimonos... (full context)

...such a thing does happen; they don’t want to be separated again, as Papa was. Mama has finally received a letter from him telling her that he’s been imprisoned as an... (full context)

Mama and Woody go to work packing celery, while Jeanne and her siblings Kiyo and May... (full context)

...her, and the adults are all playing cards or reading as they do at home. Mama and her brothers have strategized to make sure everyone in the family is evacuated to... (full context)

...never eat rice with sweet foods. However, no one protests; when Jeanne opens her mouth Mama pokes her, warning her not to be impolite. (full context)

As the youngest child, Jeanne gets to sleep next to Mama. She’s happy about this and continues to sleep next to her mother every night until... (full context)

Because it’s so cold at night, Mama has unpacked all the clothes and spread them over the children. In the morning, all... (full context)

Before Mama gets overwhelmed by the dismal shack, Woody arrives with a hammer and a box of... (full context)

Woody assures Mama that he will make things better. Suddenly, his baby daughter starts to cry. He announces... (full context)

...camps into usable clothes, but for now everyone makes do. Jeanne laughs when she sees Mama wearing old trousers much too big for her, but the important thing is to stay... (full context)

The first time Jeanne and Mama visit the latrine on Block 16, they find it covered in excrement and all the... (full context)

Eventually, the internees build partitions in the latrines, one by one. Mama and Jeanne’s sisters walk all the way across camp to use bathrooms with private toilets.... (full context)

Mama never becomes accustomed to the “humiliation” of the latrines, but she learns to endure it,... (full context)

Jeanne is too young to be humiliated by the camp as Mama is, but life at Manzanar changes her in other ways. For example, mealtime was always... (full context)

Although they have to stay near Mama, Jeanne and Kiyo eat with groups of other kids; they enjoy the independence. After a... (full context)

...Papa and her older brothers catch the fish, they run back to the house where Mama fries them for everyone to eat. Jeanne concludes the paper by saying she wants to... (full context)

Soon after arriving at Manzanar, Mama gets a job. Anyone with any special skills is asked to work, driven by “community... (full context)

Moreover, Mama is constantly worried about Papa. Letters arrive twice a month, in which half the writing... (full context)

Unable to depend on Mama, Jeanne seeks attention elsewhere, taking her “first steps” into the world outside her parents’ realm.... (full context)

However, in the meantime Papa meets Mama. She was born in Hawaii, where her father was a fieldworker. Her parents eventually settled... (full context)

Mama meets Papa at a wholesale market where her parents are selling produce and Papa is... (full context)

Mama attempts to run away with Papa, but her brothers eventually find her, take her home,... (full context)

...strikes he loses his land and has to work as a migrant laborer while supporting Mama and eight children. Just before Jeanne is born, he becomes a fisherman, doing well enough... (full context)

For Jeanne, the prewar years are represented by Papa and Mama’s silver anniversary celebration in 1940: Papa wore a new suit and Mama an elegant dress.... (full context)

...space but because of his “dark, bitter, brooding presence.” He rarely goes outside and makes Mama bring him food from the mess hall, saving up the fruit syrup to brew moonshine... (full context)

...that the neighbors gossip about him because he’s brewing moonshine in the barracks. Jeanne and Mama hear some women in the latrine calling Papa an “inu”—a Japanese insult that means “dog.” (full context)

When Mama tells a drunken Papa what the women in the latrine had been saying, he starts... (full context)

Papa threatens to kill Mama, and she tells him to “go ahead, if that will make you happy.” He stands... (full context)

...“outrage and admiration” and does nothing, so he runs out the door. Jeanne goes to Mama, relieved that the fight has ended but feeling “a miserable sense of loss” at the... (full context)

...Jeanne feels that something has changed forever. Papa continues to drink and continues to abuse Mama, and it seems like there’s no way to change the situation. (full context)

...out their anger. Papa calls them idiots and derides their plan to return to Japan; Mama says that maybe over there “they would be treated like human beings.” Papa tells her... (full context)

...she only knows that men are constantly coming and going from the barracks, and when Mama and Granny try to stop their arguing Papa shouts at them. (full context)

...men drag Papa into the barracks and Jeanne follows him. He sits silently inside while Mama pours him tea, and Woody and Chizu arrive to discuss the day’s events. A friend... (full context)

Mama has arranged the move, arguing that she needs to live in Block 28 because of... (full context)

...[…] glee clubs, and softball leagues”—everything that an American small town would have. Every morning, Mama goes to work in the mess halls and visits young mothers; she always wears a... (full context)

...has to put cold cream in her hair and stop wearing underpants—instructions Jeanne follows until Mama catches her and explains that the girls are just being mean. (full context)

...blood from Woody during labor, while her sister-in-law actually died from post-partum hemorrhaging. Papa and Mama have been taking turns sitting with Eleanor throughout her long labor. (full context)

...afternoon, Jeanne is walking through a firebreak to the hospital with Papa when they see Mama running toward them and shouting. Papa is clearly terrified that Eleanor has died; but when... (full context)

Papa puts an arm around Mama. He’s wearing a turtleneck she knit for him during his fishing days, and Mama’s hands... (full context)

In the next months, Mama and Papa grow closer together. Meanwhile, the camp population is dwindling. Some people have managed... (full context)

As Jeanne watches Woody depart, she stands between Mama and Chizu; because of this, she remembers the day three years earlier when they watched... (full context)

...moment— “full of proud smiles and half-concealed worry.” However, it’s complicated by th uncertainties of internment—Mama and Papa don’t even know where they will be living, or what their citizenship status... (full context)

...a house to return to, since their property is surely occupied by others now. Moreover, Mama and Papa—and to a limited extent, Jeanne—know that throughout the war American society has been... (full context)

...with their husbands, soon join. The family tell each other that once they have settled, Mama and Papa and the younger children will join, but everyone knows that Papa is too... (full context)

...housing shortages on the West Coast, he becomes frustrated and abandons the newspaper. He and Mama begin arguing about what to do, and Papa becomes short-tempered again. (full context)

When Mama gets tired of arguing, she tells Jeanne to rub her back and release some of... (full context)

Papa reassures Mama, telling her that the block leaders have decided to send a petition to the administration... (full context)

...his “lethargy,” he walks to the nearest town with the intention of buying a car. Mama thinks this is a bad idea, but he scoffs her advice away. Papa has always... (full context)

Jeanne and Mama go in the first trip; Papa is driving frantically and becomes outraged every time the... (full context)

Mama is able to recover some kitchenware she’d stored with neighbors before internment. However, the warehouse... (full context)

Meanwhile, Mama busies herself with the immediate concern of providing for the family. She soon gets a... (full context)

...she doesn’t like being in the crowded apartment, where the family eats in shifts and Mama is rarely home. Moreover, she’s lost respect for Papa—he’s never able to gain support for... (full context)

...for all the students in the scholarship society, of whom Jeanne is one. Papa and Mama arrive completely overdressed. As each student is presented, the parents are also introduced and stand... (full context)

...the outfit she wore, he becomes enraged and accuses her of “showing off your body.” Mama tries to intercede, but Papa shouts her down, yelling about the importance of modestly and... (full context)

...sense he’s reluctantly proud of her independence and ability to stand up for herself. Meanwhile, Mama is very proud and helps Jeanne pick out a dress to wear to the coronation... (full context)

Under Mama’s influence, Jeanne decides on an elegant but modest ball gown—unlike the other girls in the... (full context)

...elms planted by internees remain. Standing in the wind among the ruins, Jeanne thinks of Mama, who has been dead for seven years. She believes in ghosts, and she feels that... (full context)

...be the one that lay outside her own door, or it might not. She hears Mama’s voice and almost smells the cork that Papa used to heat up and place against... (full context)

...the family’s departure from Manzanar, which she now realizes is Papa’s “final outburst of defiance.” Mama is packing when Papa announces his intention to buy a car. She says this is... (full context)

Late in the afternoon, Mama, Jeanne, Chizu, and May see Papa proudly returning with the new sedan. He smells like... (full context)

Mama Character Analysis

Mama Quotes in Farewell to Manzanar

Chapter 2 Quotes

Chapter 4 Quotes

Chapter 5 Quotes

Chapter 6 Quotes

Chapter 8 Quotes

Chapter 16 Quotes

Chapter 20 Quotes

Mama Character Timeline in Farewell to Manzanar