Under those circumstances, Japanese Americans experienced conditions that were unimaginable and challenged their lifestyle. Of equal importance, people had to bear freezing temperatures all day long while their shelters remained unfinished. Since there were gaps in the floorboards, residents in the barracks would have to constantly sweep the sand that entered from the drafts. Jeanne describes, “Outside the sky was clear, but icy gusts of wind were buffering our barracks every few minutes, sending fresh dust puffs up through the floorboards” (Wakatsuki Houston 23). Originally, there were several issues in the barracks they lived in, because they were not structurally sound. The living conditions that Japanese Americans were faced with at the internment camps were inhumane. Jeanne encountered many punishing experiences growing up at Manzanar. Above all the stress Japanese American children were put through in their early lives, some were required to encounter the grueling events separated from their parents. Sadly, Ina was split from her father, and from that point on she could not have the comfort of him being around. Hers was among the families unwillingly torn apart: her father was arrested for protesting conditions at a camp and sent with other protestors to an all-male detention center run by the US Department of Justice, she says” (Purtill 6). Informing readers about a former camp internee, one article notes, “Ina was born in an internment camp. While Jeanne was lucky enough to stay with her Mama and Papa, there were children at internment camps who were not as fortunate. Although it was a dangerous situation, Kiyo had the courage to stand up for his Mama, protecting her from harm.
Unfortunately, Jeanne and her siblings had to witness their Papa perform acts of aggression towards their Mama, since they were all packed inside one small shelter. Kiyo must have felt something similar, because at the height of Papa’s tirade he threw his covers back, and in his underwear he jumped out of bed yelling “Stop it, Papa! Stop it!”” (Wakatsuki Houston 63). Jeanne says, “Inside my own helplessness I cowered, sure he was going to kill her or hurt her very badly, and the way Mama lay there I believed she was actually ready to be beaten to death. When Papa first returned to his family after being sent away, he was unhappy with their setting which led him to begin drinking. Eventually, Jeane adapted to her surroundings and did not get ill as often. In Jeanne’s case, she initially got sick over and over at camp because she was not used to the harsh environment. It was common for the young Japanese Americans to get sick due to the conditions they were living in when they first arrived at Manzanar.
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