Summary Of Power Of The Word By Lawson Fusao

Poem Analysis The poem “The Power of the Word” is written by Lawson Fusao, a Japanese American poet. This poem is not a narrative poem and is closer to a lyrical poem. It shows us how the narrator, under a hostile environment, is trying to find the way to a better future. We can infer from the poem that the author is talking about the unfair and cruel experience of Japanese American in the 20th century. During that world war two, Japanese immigrants faced a lot of restrictions and many of them were sent to concentration camps because the majority of the society believed that they are not trustworthy (Lee 133-135). Lee also mentioned that even when the north America stopped to accept Japanese immigrant, the Japanese exclusion was still happening in south America. It is imaginable that those Japanese American felt despair about their future since they were not accepted as a part of the society no matter where they go. …show more content…
The first three sentences describe how the narrator, a Japanese American, trudge in the wild. It is dark everywhere and is snowing heavily. This cold, scary and dark environment is exactly the situation Japanese Americans were facing during the period of anti-Japanese movement. Because of that U.S was in war with Japan, most people in U.S. believed that all Japanese American were potentially spy. Japanese Americans were treated unfriendly and unfairly even though they did nothing wrong. As the minority of the society, they were lacking the power to change how people think about them and were helpless since no one were able to help them. Even if they go to other countries, they were still facing hostility toward them. In contrast, in the second and the third verses, the author presented us a hopeful view of the future. Even when they were under situation like that, they never give up seeking for ways to control their own