The Moved Outers by Florence Crannell Means
"The Moved Outers" by Florence Crannell Means is a historical novel set along the California coast during the tumultuous period following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The story centers around the Ohara family, Japanese Americans who experience drastic changes in their lives as they face the consequences of wartime prejudice. Sue and Kim Ohara, high school students, navigate their identity as loyal Americans of Japanese descent while dealing with the sudden uprooting from their home and community due to government orders that lead them to relocation camps.
The narrative poignantly captures the emotional struggles and resilience of the Ohara family as they confront the loss of their businesses, separation from loved ones, and the challenges of camp life. Themes of love, loyalty, and identity emerge as Sue begins to develop a romance amid the chaos, and the family strives to maintain their spirit despite the hardships they endure. The novel highlights the broader context of racial discrimination experienced by Japanese Americans during this era, inviting readers to reflect on the impact of prejudice and the strength of the human spirit in the face of unjust circumstances. "The Moved Outers" serves as a poignant reminder of this chapter in U.S. history, offering insights into the psychological toll of wartime actions on minority communities.
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Subject Terms
The Moved Outers by Florence Crannell Means
First published: 1945; illustrated
Type of work: Historical fiction
Themes: Race and ethnicity, war, and friendship
Time of work: World War II
Recommended Ages: 13-15
Locale: California
Principal Characters:
Sue Ohara , a Japanese American girl who is a well-liked senior in high schoolKim Ohara , her brother, also a popular senior, who is very smartMr. Ohara , their father, the owner of a prosperous nursery and floral shopMrs. Ohara , their very reserved, proper Japanese motherJiro Ito , a Japanese neighbor boy, with whom Sue falls in love
The Story
This is a historical novel, contemporary when written, that takes place along the California coast. The plot revolves around wartime America dealing with the Japanese Americans living on its Pacific coast and concerns a particular California family of Japanese origin in the months following the Pearl Harbor attack.
Sue Ohara and her brother Kim are Japanese American high school students, whose family lives on the West Coast. Sue’s father has a successful nursery and floral shop, and her mother stays busy running the household and taking care of the family. Another son, Tad, is away serving in the armed forces; another daughter, Amy, attends college in the East.
On the Friday of the weekend of December 7, 1941, Sue and her best friend, Emily, walk home from school, sharing high hopes for the future, after graduation. Their lives revolve around church and school activities. Sue’s brother, Kim, is active on the high school debate team and has just given an impressive speech at school on democracy. Her father is active in the local civic clubs and church activities. Sue and Kim, American-born, feel as American as the Stars and Stripes, although they are of Oriental ancestry.
When the radio announces on Sunday, December 7, 1941, that Japan has attacked Pearl Harbor, all Japanese Americans on the West Coast are ordered to relocation camps, away from the coast, where they are crowded behind barbed wire. The reader shares the sorrow of the families as they give up businesses, pack their treasures, and are separated from one another. Sue’s father is taken into custody by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), while she, her mother, and her brother Kim are moved to a relocation camp.
Life in camp, away from home and their many high school friends, is a strange, new experience for Sue and Kim. For Sue, this is only partly counterbalanced by her falling in love with Jiro Ito. Just as the Oharas are beginning to adjust to the camp at Santa Anita, they are moved to another camp in Colorado. At the same time, Mr. Ohara is released by the FBI and rejoins them; Kim is shot at by a misunderstanding American, and his spirit is nearly broken by the humiliating treatment he receives. Their brother Tad, in the Army, is reported killed in action in Italy.
Somehow, even in crowded, unnatural living conditions, surrounded by humorous and tragic happenings, both Sue and Kim are able to fight for and regain faith in the United States. The evacuees, the moved outers, still love the United States through broken hearts and look forward to the regaining of their world when the war is over—the day when they will be “going back to America.”
Context
The Moved Outers records the unpleasant chapter in U.S. history of treatment of Japanese Americans at the beginning of the war with Japan. The United States can take no pride in this. The book convincingly portrays the psychological problems of loyal Americans of Oriental blood during that period of time. The reader understands the feelings of one who must go from a life of freedom to a life behind barbed wire.
Florence Crannell Means holds a mirror up to prejudice in her writings. Shuttered Windows (1938), Teresita of the Valley (1943), Tolliver (1963), It Takes All Kinds (1964), and Our Cup Is Broken (1969), like this book, continue to point the finger at unjustifiable prejudice toward minorities in American society. Means points out the irrationality of human behavior during a war. She presents young people with material for serious thinking on the subject of racial discrimination. She points out that, in times like these, matters of this sort are not settled by thinking but by obscure, almost irresistible emotional reflexes.