Farewell to Manzanar is all about dashed hopes, failed dreams, and foiled plans, so it's easy to presume that this book is going to be a downer through and through. But the book is also just as much about how human willpower and endurance can create new and different dreams, hopes, and plans; how, in other words, to create a new kind of beauty out of total dreck.
Questions About Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
- How do Papa and Mama deal with their changed lives differently?
- Does Jeanne's schoolgirl's dream of being queen actually change? Or does it stay the same even as she becomes an adult?
- What are the similarities and differences between Woody's dreams and Papa's dreams? Are they more similar or more different?
- How does the Japanese concept of endurance—shikata ga nai—relate to dreams, hopes, and plans?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Jeanne's dream to be a queen is basically another way of saying she wants to be a popular, white girl.
Women in this book are more resilient and adaptable because they aren't so rigid about their dreams, hopes, and plans.