Wakatsuki Ko, also known as Papa to the author of the memoir, ¨Farewell to Manzanar.” In the story, he represented the hardships and compromises Japanese immigrants suffered and made. Ko’s ancestry traced back to samurais, which used to rank second to royalty. When his father opened a “teahouse” for financial needs, he couldn’t swallow the shame. So he fled to America, believing that he would store his family honor by becoming prosperous.
There were no pattern as to what jobs Ko took in the U.S.. He changes professions so he could adapt to the economy and thrive. Some of the job he tried was lumberjacking, cooking, farming, and dentistry. This shows Ko is a interchangeable man that can adapt to any job he chooses. The following quote is evidence of that: “...he could work well at any task he turned his hand to: he could raise vegetables, sail a boat, plead a case in small claims court, sing Japanese poems, make false teeth, carve a pig.”…show more content… He arrived with great ambitions and confidence, thinking that he would be a successful entrepreneur. However, something always stops him in his tracks. The road block could be racism, bad luck, or his own arrogance. “For all his boasts and high intentions, he never quite finished anything he set out to do. Something always stopped him: bad luck, a racial battier, a law, his own vanity or arrogance or fear of losing face.” Beside his ambitions, He also had a family to support and care for. All of these made Ko work harder and persevere longer. With time, his arrogance and ignorance became determination and
