G5: A Jar of Dreams

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Uchida, Yoshiko. 1981. A JAR OF DREAMS. New York: Atheneum. 0-689-50210-9.

The poor, hardworking Japanese-American Tsujimura family dreams of a better life in Berkeley, California in 1935 during the Great Depression. Rinko, the 11-year-old middle child, narrates this story of how she, her immigrant parents, and two brothers change their attitude toward their dreams after the events of one summer. After numerous failures in business, her father, known as “Papa,” is a barber without many customers who dreams of owning his own garage someday. Originally brought from Japan to marry Papa, her mother wants to start her own laundry, while her brother, Cal, attends university and studies engineering. Rinko herself wants to be a teacher. Unfortunately, anti-Japanese sentiment among their American neighbors thwarts the pursuit of their dreams, at least until Aunt Waka arrives to remind Rinko and her family of who they are and why they came to the U.S. in the first place.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Uchida uses the Tsujimura family to remind young adult and even adult readers on the need to stand up for themselves and pursue their dreams in the face of what seems to be insurmountable adversity. With a tight timeframe of a long-ago summer and a diary-like writing style through the eyes of a quiet, young and self-conscious Japanese-American girl, this novel demonstrates to us both the negative effects of allowing ourselves to be pushed into silence by those around us and the liberating feeling of finding our own voices and making ourselves heard.

Rinko narrates honestly what she sees and how she feels about it. True to her young view of life, she describes how discrimination affects her and her family, but she never uses any form of the words “racism” or “discrimination.” Instead, she tells us how Mr. Starr scares her by yelling slurs at her, or how she feels “pressed down and small and not my own true self” (41) at school. When her friend Tami speaks up after the girls are told they could not swim at a local pool, Rinko sees her as brave but is also embarrassed at making a scene.

Although she is silent outside of the cocoon of her family, she makes up for her silence with her narrative voice and even a sense of humor when talking about her family. Papa is a dreamer, a barber who embarrasses his daughter with the haircuts he gives her and who is happiest when fixing things. Hired originally to pick fruit and vegetables, his schemes to provide for his family are humorously outlined by Rinko. She also picks up on the idea that he wants to be an American and “loved America even if it didn’t love him back” (83).

Mama, with her belongings in a trunk in the family’s basement, seems never to have fully unpacked her own life in the U.S., though she runs her household with a strong will and does anything to help her family. According to Rinko, Cal is the glorious hope for the family. Papa will do anything to ensure that he completes school, but she faithfully repeats his cynical response that he’ll “probably end up selling cabbages and potatoes at some produce market just like all the other Japanese guys I know” (8). Joji, her do-nothing younger brother, is her nemesis, and Rinko lets everyone know exactly how she feels about him and his slovenliness.

The two main threads of the plot move along and end up colliding somewhat predictably, especially after Mama decides to begin a family laundry business in their house to help the family get out of debt. Everyone in the family will pitch in, but her decision puts her in direct competition with the evil Mr. Starr. True to form, laundry disappears, tires are slashed, and Joji’s “watchdog” has his throat cut by people working for the man who hates “Japs.”

The impending visit of Aunt Waka is the second thread. Early in the novel, Rinko can only wonder what she is like. She knows of a foot deformity but not much else, so when her aunt arrives and shows her strength by reminding the adults about the need to stand up for themselves, Rinko is amazed. Aunt Waka, with her own tragic past, is connected with Japan and its traditions and “could see things we couldn’t see for ourselves. As if we were in a glass box and she could see us from the outside” (87). For the plot, Starr provides the conflict and complications, but Aunt Waka is responsible for the climax and a happy resolution.

Not all Americans share Wilbur Starr’s animosity toward his Japanese neighbors. Mrs. Sugar is the kind woman who lives next door who makes cookies for Rinko and a lap on which to sit. She provides comfort and also a horrified voice when told of how Starr is undermining Mama’s laundry, suggesting that they go to the police. Although this is not much of an option, it does suggest there is hope for Japanese-Americans to become integrated. On a narrative level, it also increases the veracity of the novel by showing smaller acts of kindness and not succumbing to the type of broadly dismissive behavior practiced by Starr. During the upbeat ending, Mrs. Sugar promises to visit Japan where she will presumably continue her very un-Japanese practice of hugging those about whom she cares.

After Papa and “Uncle” Kanda confront and defeat Starr in a scene where readers will surely applaud, the plot resolves itself quickly. Cal stays in school after his earlier threat to drop out to help the family, Papa opens his garage with Kanda as an investor, and Mama has her laundry business without the threats. The mood in the Rinko’s narrative voice lifts, even if there is a bit of tension when Kanda gets hurt. In this tension, however, there is an opportunity for Rinko to assert her newfound confidence with the nurse during her visit to Kanda. Once she does that, she shows her growth and paves the way for her Japanese family to act like “normal” Americans just trying to improve their lives.

The “jar of dreams” appears as a metaphor at the beginning and ending of the story. Rinko first describes it as her savings bank to finance her education. She is committed to adding to it, but Joji can only spend his on candy. Later, when Kanda is in the hospital, he mentions the importance of maintaining it so that she can achieve her dream of becoming a teacher. He bolsters her hope by saying that Cal wants this for his sister. The final mention occurs when Aunt Waka is leaving. Rinko expresses a desire to visit Japan, and her aunt suggests that she begin another jar. Even though the idea appeals to Rinko, she knows she must pursue her own dreams first. She has heard her aunt’s advice about accepting and pushing herself, but she will worry about Japan in the future. Teaching will come first for her.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
--The family--kidding each other, helping each other--has discovered its own Japanese-American resources. An affecting, spirited coming-to-terms. (KIRKUS, September 1981)
--Reading this delicious novel aimed at young teenagers is like chatting on the phone with a friend who can make you laugh even while she’s describing the worst day she’s ever had. (ASIAN REPORTER, March 2004)
--Packed into this novel are themes and plot enough to keep a TV series going for years. Unfortunately, the story has the depth and styles of most TV shows, too. (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, August 1981)...This is a tough review to post because its viewpoint does not align with mine. (JK)

Hard to come by for this out-of-print novel, book review excerpts are from online sources.

CONNECTIONS
--A few years after the events in this novel, during the post Pearl Harbor hysteria of World War II, Japanese-Americans were interned in camps. They lost much of what they had built for themselves, even though they were loyal Americans. At this point, Rinko would have been in her late teens, old enough to go to a beauty salon. For more on this experience, which could supplement a unit on the war or stand on its own, please see:

PBS Documentary: CHILDREN OF THE CAMPS
This contains not only information on making the documentary but also numerous links on that time in history and how it affected everyone involved.

Photos on the Internment Camps by Ansel Adams

--Other books by Yoshiko Uchida:
THE BRACELET. 1996. ISBN: 978-0698113909
THE BEST BAD THING. 1993. ISBN: 978-0689717451
DESERT EXILE: THE UPROOTING OF A JAPANESE-AMERICAN FAMILY. 1984. ISBN: 978-0295961903
THE HAPPIEST ENDING. 1985. ISBN: 978-0689503269. (Another Rinko Tsujimura novel!)
JOURNEY TO TOPAZ: THE STORY OF A JAPANESE-AMERICAN EVACUATION. 2005. (ALA Notable Book). ISBN: 978-1890771911
THE SAMURAI OF GOLD HILL. 2005. ISBN: 978-1597140157

--Other books on the experiences of Japanese-Americans:
Cooper, Michael L. REMEMBERING MANZANAR: LIFE IN A JAPANESE RELOCATION CAMP. 2002. ISBN: 978-0618067787.
Ford, Jamie. 2009. HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET. ISBN: 978-0345505347. (For high school and adult readers)
Kadohata, Cynthia. KIRA-KIRA. 2005. ISBN: 978-0689856402. (Newbery Award, 2005)
Salisbury, Graham. UNDER THE BLOOD-RED SUN. 2005. ISBN: 978-0553494877. (Winner, Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, 1995)
Wakatsuki Houston, Jeanne & James D. Houston. 2002. FAREWELL TO MANZANAR. ISBN: 978-0618216208. (Nonfiction)

Please note that more titles exist at various reading levels, usually that of middle school and older.