How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
''Never met a kid didn't like stories. Red skin, yellow skin, white skin, any skin." He puts his brown leathery, arm beside Kenji's pale one. "Don't make sense, do it, all this fuss about skin?" (12.29)
Rough Lock Bill is the only white person in the novel who actually speaks out against prejudice. He's a dude who lives in a shack in the middle of a forest, but he seems better educated than anyone.
Quote #8
What is it she smells? What foreign odor sends its message down into her body, alerting her limbs? If only I could banish all that offends her delicate sensibilities. Especially the strong smell of miso and daikon and shoyu. Especially all the dust that Obasan and I are too short to see. Mrs. Barker's glance at Obasan is one of condescension. Or is it solicitude? We are dogs, she and I, sniffing for clues, our throats quivering with subliminal growls. (34.28)
How do you think Naomi feels during this scene? How about Mrs. Barker? What about Obasan?
Quote #9
"It was a terrible business what we did to our Japanese," Mr. Barker says. Ah, here we go again. "Our Indians". "Our Japanese". "A terrible business". (34.48)
This is an example of a micro-aggression. We are sure that Mr. Barker didn't mean to be prejudiced, but racism is so deeply embedded into his worldview that he's patronizing without even realizing it. It's obviously not as bad as taking people's homes and sending them into internment camps, but it still perpetuates prejudice.