When the Emperor Was Divine

The loss of identity is a key theme in the book, which the reader confronts on every page, as the narrator refers to the characters throughout the book simply as the woman, the girl, and the boy. They are also assigned numbers, instead of identities, as part of their processing as they go to the internment camp.

This loss of identity is highlighted not only in the gradual loss of material possessions, but also in the ways that the characters attempt to cling to their identities: the mother’s attempts to continue wearing make-up, so as to continue controlling the appearance of her face; the daughter’s attempt to maintain old friendships just as they were before this experience, assuring her pen pals that the camp is fine, and all is well; and the boys whispering Hirohito, as an attempt to keep his own identity as an “Emperor-worshiping Shinto.” The attempts are not entirely successful. After asking her children to help her remember whether or not she had a stove, the mother laments: “I used to be quite the cook once, you know” (80), which implies that she has surrendered or lost that part of her old identity.