Previous
Daddy/Takekuma Norman Takei
Mama is George, Henry, and Nancy Reiko’s mother and Daddy’s wife. A Nisei, Mama was born in Sacramento—but to save her from attending segregated schools, her father sent her to Japan as a child. She and Daddy marry in 1935 and over the next several years, Mama gives birth to four children (her first son dies at only a few months old). When George’s story starts in earnest in 1941, Mama is a devoted housewife who dedicates herself to caring for her children and husband. As soon as she and Daddy hear the news that the Japanese Empire bombed Pearl Harbor, they fear that bad things will happen to the family—and ultimately, they’re correct. But rather than panic when the family is forced from their home and into internment camps, Mama instead throws herself into caring for her family in every way she can. She allows George and Henry to think that they’re on vacation and packs bags of goodies to keep them occupied on the five-day train journey to Camp Rohwer. Once the family arrives at Rohwer, she reveals that she smuggled in her sewing machine—a symbol of her dedication to her family, and a way to be able to continue to care for them once they’re in the camp. As the war progresses, Mama and Daddy’s first priority is to keep the family safe and together. To achieve this goal, they both answer no-no on the government’s loyalty questionnaire. Later, in a desperate bid to keep the family safe, Mama chooses to give up her citizenship and doesn’t get it reinstated until years later. Throughout the family’s time in the camps, she teaches George and Henry to be good, kind, and to prioritize family and community. Mama fades from the narrative several months after the family leaves the camps, once she convinces Daddy to focus on their family instead of the wider Japanese American community.
Mama Quotes in They Called Us Enemy
The They Called Us Enemy 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:
).
They Called Us Enemy Quotes
Each family was assigned a horse stall still pungent with the stink of manure. As a kid, I couldn’t grasp the injustice of the situation.
But for my parents, it was a devastating blow. They had worked so hard to buy a two-bedroom house and raise a family in Los Angeles... now we were crammed into a single, smelly horse stall. It was a degrading, humiliating, painful experience.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Memory is a wily keeper of the past... usually dependable, but at times, deceptive.
Childhood memories are especially slippery.
Sweet and so full of joy, they can often be a misrendering of the truth.
For a child, that sweetness... out of context and intensely subjective... remains forever real.
I know that I will always be haunted by the larger, vaguely remembered reality of the circumstances surrounding my childhood.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Mama began the impossible work of making a home for us out of the rough-hewn single room.
She ran up curtains made from government surplus fabrics.
Using strips of discarded rags, she braided together colorful floor mats.
About the only thing Mama didn’t have to do was cook.
But to her it was no relief. The kitchen was just one more aspect of caring for her family that she was denied.
One more loss. I realize that besides comforting us... perhaps everything she did was also her own statement of defiance.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Childhood memories come rich with sensations...
... Fragrances, sounds, colors, and especially temperatures. That golden afternoon when Daddy took the family on that wonderful jeep ride...
... Is a fond memory that glows radiantly with warmth.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Though they responded in different ways—caring for their families...
Fighting on the battlefield...
Or serving time for their principles—all these Japanese Americans showed incredible courage and heroism.
They proved that being American is not just for some people. They all made difficult choices to demonstrate their patriotism to this country even when it rejected them.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire They Called Us Enemy LitChart as a printable PDF.
Mama Character Timeline in They Called Us Enemy
The timeline below shows where the character Mama appears in They Called Us Enemy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
They Called Us Enemy
...He crouches down to George and Henry and tells them to wait while he helps Mama and their sister—then they’ll take their bags to the driveway. Minutes later, out in the...
(full context)
...attended school in California’s Bay Area. Later, he started a successful dry-cleaning business. George’s mother, Fumiko Emily Nakamura , was born in California, but her parents raised her in a traditional Japanese way—and...
(full context)
The narrative shifts to Los Angeles in 1937; Mama has just given birth to a baby boy. He’s Mama and Daddy’s second child, but...
(full context)
...helps Daddy put lights on the Christmas tree while Henry plays with a train set. Mama feeds Nancy Reiko a bottle. The evening is calm and peaceful. Suddenly, “Silent Night” cuts...
(full context)
...tells curious reporters that he’s aware of what’s going on but hasn’t investigated anything. Eventually, Mama discovers that the Takeis’ bank account has been frozen, too.
(full context)
Mama and Daddy do whatever they can to battle the unsanitary conditions. They take George, Henry,...
(full context)
...give each person an identification tag that they’re supposed to wear all the time. To Mama and Daddy, this is dehumanizing—but George thinks it’s just his train ticket.
(full context)
...and then lifts him onto the train. Daddy follows behind with Henry and they rejoin Mama and Nancy Reiko.
(full context)
Mama offers Henry and George their own water canteens. To George, this isn’t anything exciting or...
(full context)
George remembers Mama’s concern and Daddy sitting by the window, looking melancholy. But those memories are vague compared...
(full context)
...of old, weathered Black men sitting on a bench. He and Henry are awed, but Mama snaps the shade closed before a soldier notices.
(full context)
The truck stops at Block 6 and everyone helps unload. Daddy leaves Mama with the children while he goes to find their lodging. George and Henry look past...
(full context)
...men arrive to help the Takei family move. One reaches for a heavy-looking bag that Mama always carries, but Mama pulls it away from him. She never lets anyone carry it...
(full context)
...touching the potbelly stove, which must be hot enough to burn him. He then tells Mama that they’re handing out army cots at the end of the block; he’ll head out...
(full context)
Finally, it’s time for Mama to open her secret, heavy bag. George and Henry are excited—they assume it contains some...
(full context)
Mama and Daddy throw themselves into setting up their new lives. Mama turns their single room...
(full context)
Later, George asks Mama what’s so magical about sakana beach. She translates the words from Japanese to English and...
(full context)
...the horn. George and Henry climb into the jeep and honk the horn, yelling for Mama to hurry up. Mama ties headscarves onto herself and Nancy Reiko and then climbs into...
(full context)
As dusk arrives, Daddy speeds back to the camp. Mama turns around to see Henry asleep on George’s shoulder. She motions for George to not...
(full context)
...George and Henry are the first ones out of the house and they immediately pelt Mama and Daddy with snowballs when they step outside. Daddy wastes no time in joining in...
(full context)
...to his parents talking about something “outrageous” having to do with allegiance to the emperor. Mama is crying, so George sits up and tells her not to cry. Mama and Daddy...
(full context)
Mama and Daddy answer no to both questions, which gets them labeled “no-nos.” George explains that...
(full context)
...up all his memories and heritage for a country that doesn’t want him anyway. For Mama, question 27 is just absurd, but question 28 frustrates her. She’s an American citizen, as...
(full context)
...being relocated because of their answers to the survey questions. On the platform, George asks Mama why everyone is crying. She explains gently that people might not see their friends again....
(full context)
...tanks. When Henry asks George why they’re at Camp Tule Lake, George says it’s because Mama and Daddy are no-nos. Henry doesn’t know what this means.
(full context)
At Camp Tule Lake, George loves living across from the mess hall, but Mama hates it. The clang of the bell annoys her every morning. However, Daddy points out...
(full context)
...manager. He works hard and because of this, he doesn’t spend as much time with Mama and his children. This is hard for George—and for Mama.
(full context)
George explains that anyone who answered no-no on the questionnaire, even in protest like Mama and Daddy, is lumped in with real radicals. Soldiers raid barracks at night to arrest...
(full context)
...to become ‘enemy aliens.’” The group most likely to be affected is the Nisei, like Mama.
(full context)
In October of 1944, Mama leads George, Henry, and Nancy Reiko past a man speaking. He shouts that America treats...
(full context)
...if people renounce, they get to stay safely in the camp. It seems clear to Mama and Daddy that in order to keep the family safe and together, they’ll have to...
(full context)
Weeks later, Mama stands in line to renounce her citizenship, along with thousands of other Japanese Americans at...
(full context)
...move out. The people who renounced their citizenship have no choice but to stay, though. Mama and Daddy worry about what they’ll do in Japan. Mama is supposed to depart on...
(full context)
...Tamba, delivers the news that it worked. He explains that they’re scheduling mitigation hearings, and Mama’s will take place right away. Mr. Collins and the San Francisco branch of the ACLU...
(full context)
...Nearly 90% of the people who received hearings are released. It takes years to get Mama’s citizenship back, but in 1945, being freed from deportation means that the family can move...
(full context)
...has to decide where to go. Daddy wants to go back to Los Angeles, but Mama is concerned it won’t be safe anymore. She suggests Salt Lake City, where Daddy’s brother...
(full context)
...behind barbed wire anymore. As the train approaches Los Angeles, George watches the glistening city. Mama points out city hall and other landmarks. George doesn’t recognize them, but he feels an...
(full context)
...help. But this doesn’t last long, since Daddy can’t bring himself to accept payment. Finally, Mama asks him to stop. She says it’s time to take care of the family, not...
(full context)
...the camps, news traveled slowly. It’s not until the family is in East L.A. that Mama receives a letter from her mother, saying that she and Mama’s father survived the bombing...
(full context)
...how he could say this when the U.S. government took everything away from him and Mama. Daddy replied that President Roosevelt pulled the country out of the Depression and did other...
(full context)
