"When the Emperor Was Divine" - Quotation Collection - The Girl

[Robin Nourie]

"The door to the girl's room was closed. Above the doorknob was a note that had not been there the day before. It said DO NOT DISTURB. The woman did not open the door." (7)

This is our first encounter with the character called only "the girl" throughout the novel.  It is the first sign that her way of dealing with the internment will be to withdraw from the people who love her and to try to handle the hardships of internment on her own.

[caroline caraballo]

His sister left the barracks early in the morning and did not return until long after dark. She was always in a rush now. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold. "Where are you going?" "Out." She ate all of her meals with her friends. Never with the boy or his mother. She smoked cigarettes. He could smell them in her hair. One day he saw her standing in line at the mess hall in her Panama hat and she hardly seemed to recognize him at all. (92)

"Don't touch me" said the girl, I want to be sick by myself.(26) 

[Zoe Andersson]

"The girl knew what the woman was staring at. She was staring at nothing, there was nothing for her to see" 

"'You can't remember everything' she said, 

'And even when you shouldn't' said the girl.

 'I wouldn't say that' 

'You didn't.'"

[seme...@gfsnet.org]

"It's is better to bend then too break"

The Father

Shows how terrible the internment is for the father. Their proud father has been broken he has experienced something so terrible that he tells his family to bend to their ways and submit rather then go through what he went through.

[seme...@gfsnet.org]

"The boy thought he saw his father every wear."

Shows how close the father and son were and how terrible it is for the boy to be separated from his father.

[Talya Laver]

She said "I won a nickle at bingo tonight. Tomorrow we'll go to the canteen and but you a coca-cola."