Quotable Quotes

"Don't touch me," said the girl. "I want to be sick by myself."

"That's impossible," said her mother. She continued to rub her back and the girl did not push her away." (Otsuka, 26)

I feel that this quote is significant on two levels. The first level is that while the girl wants to be by herself she will never be alone for a long time. On the train there are many passengers and so everyone will know she is sick. When they go to the camp the girl will never be alone because there are people everywhere. Her days of privacy are gone and she will be sharing space for years to come.

On another level this quote is significant because once you are a part of a family you are never alone. The mother tells her daughter that it is impossible, but she does not give tell her why. On a deeper level the mother is saying that she will always be there and that the girl will never be alone. This is significant because the girl's father is gone, but it makes the mother that much more important. No matter what, the mother will always be there. The girl seems to understand this because as the passage says she does not push her mother away, she allows her to continue comforting her. Otsuka seems to be making a statement about mothers and their children and how the bond between them is strong.

"One evening as the boy's mother was hauling back a bucket of water from the washroom she ran into her former housekeeper, Mrs. Ueno. "When she saw me she grabbed the bucket right out of my hands and insisted upon carrying it home for me. 'You'll hurt your back again,' she said. I tried to tell her she no longer worked for me. 'Mrs. Ueno,' I said, 'here we're all equals,' but of course she wouldn't listen. When we got back to the barracks she set the bucket down by the front door and then she bowed and hurried off into the darkness. I didn't even get a chance to thank her."

"Maybe you can thank her tomorrow," said the boy.

"I don't even know where she lives. I don't even know what day it is."

"It's Tuesday, Mama." (Otsuka, 56)

This is a significant passage because it shows how desperate the people in the camp were to go back to their normal lives and how much of a toll it took on the characters, living in the camp.

Mrs. Ueno is so desperate to have normalcy in her life, she carries the bucket for her former employer, just to feel like she has a place in the world. Just to remind herself that there was a life outside of the camp.

The mother, on the other hand, shows what the situation is really like at the camp. She cannot even remember what day it is and that no one is better than anyone else. Camp is the great equalizer. I think this passage show the different ways that people lived there lives at the camp.