When The Emperor Was Divine.......... Chapter 2

1}Whose point of view dominates this chapter? What clues does the author use to indicate this shift?
This chapter is dominated by the daughter. The author uses more detail about the daughter to show the shift.
2}How much time has passed since the family left its home and what has happened in the interim?
It has been almost a day since the family left. They have been on the ride to the camp.
3}Why have the girl’s shoes gone unpolished since spring?
They really had no time to polish them.
4}What sights draw her attention as she gazes out the train window?
She takes note of the dried up lakes, people riding bikes, and people leaving church.
5}Why does the soldier tell her to pull her shades down?
He feared the people would see her and begin to throw things.
6}What might account for the boy’s newfound interest in horses? How do the grownups around him treat this interest? What about their responses might be confusing to him?
His time at a horse stable led to his new interest. The grown-ups tell him to grow up and to be a big strong “American” boy. Their responses are confusing him because he thought he was already an American.
7}When the girl asks Ted Ishimoto if he is a rich man, he says “Not anymore.” [p. 33] What might account for his answer?
He might have said this because at one time he was very rich. But when he had to leave all his belongings he no longer has them.
8}Do you think the girl’s story about her father is true? Why or why not, and if it isn’t true what might be her reason for telling it? Why does she later tell Ted that her father never writes to her?
I do not believe her story about her father is true. I believe she just wanted sympathy.
9}What is striking about the boy saying that he forgot his umbrella? Is he telling a deliberate untruth or is he forgetting what actually happened? At what other points in the book do the characters suffer lapses of memory or remember events falsely?
The boy was hitting himself with an orange and he forgot what happened earlier before he got on the train. I think the other points in the book when characters will suffer lapse of memory or remember events falsely is when they will be trying to figure out where their tickets are
10}Why might the boy draw his father inside a square?
Because he misses him. His father is in jail and the square is symbolic of the cell.
11}What is Tanforan and what happened there? In what different ways do different characters remember it?
It was a stable where the boy and the girl once worked. Many characters remember it because of the smell. The boy may remember more clearly than the girl because of his love for horses.
12}During the night the train crosses the Great Salt Lake. Given that the girl is asleep at the time, who is observing this crossing? And what might this narrator mean by “the sound of the lake was inside her” [pp. 46-7]?
The woman is observing the crossing. The narrator could mean that she was resting peacefully, as a lake sounds very calming.