Browse > Theme > Family—blessing or curse
2 articles
Time of Decay (short story)
- Short Stories
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Fiction
- Desire to escape, Family—blessing or curse, Loneliness as destructive force, Losing hope
- Widely available
Short story by Ferris Takahashi of an Issei woman whose family puts her in a cold nursing home against her will at the end of her life. Told from the perspective of the woman, she recalls her forced removal and incarceration in unspecified concentration camps and other episodes in her life.
Topaz Mosaic (short story)
- Short Stories
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Communication—verbal and nonverbal, Family—blessing or curse, Optimism—power or folly, Reunion
- Widely available
Three vignettes by Toshio Mori centering on a family in Topaz and the furlough visit of their Nisei soldier son. In the first, an Issei father struggles to write a letter to his son Sam in English. In the second, Sam stops in Salt Lake City to buy presents for his family before visiting them in Topaz the next day, recalling the friend (presumably in Topaz) who was convinced he was a "sucker" for volunteering. In the last, Sam is greeted warmly by his family and learns that a sister has left camp for New York and a brother is also joining the army.