After Darkness Themes + Quotes PDF

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Tutor Notes for a Year 12 VCE student....

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Themes

Key ideas The text highlights the devastating effect on the men who finds themselves classified as enemy aliens, as well as challenging the ethos that has arbitrarily  Grouped them together.  Ibaraki experiences loss through sister Bernice, Kayoko and his job. (loses everyone near him)  Haradara experiences loss when he dies, saying he knows it and he will miss Minnie  Loss of identity in the camps “carbon copy”  Loss of humanity during unit 731  Loss of Ibaraki’s brother when he finds out he passed.  The text also explores the idea of displacement when Ibaraki loses his job and marriage, he also loses his sense of belonging.  Ibaraki experiences loss when he loses stan to the shooting  Feels a sense of loss when he leaves the camp as he has changed a lot, no longer follows traditional Jap style and feels at home in Australia Cultural values are often seen to be under threat in after darkness especially in the Love Day camp when japs and half casts (that have more of Australia’s cultural values) are put together 

Loss

Race and Identity

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Having camp separated into their race (Japanese, Italians & Germans) highlights segregation Johnny Chang, Stan Suzuki and other Australians in the camp were little and used because of their

Examples or quotes “More suicide attempts are the last thing we need” - Dr Ashton  “Broome would never felt the same’ - Ibaraki  “The town was a shadow of its former self” - Ibaraki  “My only brother was dead. It would never be anything other than a loss to me” - Ibaraki, pg. 135  “Thank-you for everything. I won’t forget- My voice faltered” - Ibaraki 273 Ibaraki voice falters as he is sad to leave. 

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‘We can’t have them knowing about the trouble with the haafu. They’re an embarrassment to us all.’

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‘It’s different Japanese.’

for

you.

You’re

 “They’re a disgrace to our nation.” Example: Japanese girls wearing western fashion at setsubun 

“Japan would never retreat - we

race Australians were expected to do the jobs no one wanted to do throughout camp  Loss of identity in the camps and when performing dissections on the young children  Johnny change’s identity when moves from Broome to Love Day  Australian women shouts and spits at the prisoners/Japanese on the train is SA on the way to Love Day  Attitude to racism in Broome was a lot more relaxed/different compared to in Love Day  Preform Japanese traditions in Broome to celebrate their culture  Sister Bernice and Ibaraki look after the sick and injured  Ibaraki providing for the family become doc like dad  Ibaraki fails his duty as a researcher/surgeon  -serving the emperor  -complete in silence  -conform to social normality’s  -fails in duty as a husband  -Ibaraki hides behind his sense of duty  -sister Bernice has a sense of duty to god  -Ibaraki feels sense of duty to stay quiet when fired  -Ibaraki ends up breaking that sense of duty to stay silent  Harada stays with his wife out of a sense of duty

fight until death” - Nationalistic identity

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Duty

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“Bloody Japs!” - women spitting at the train when seeing the Japanese

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“You bloody racist” “You fucking Emperor-worshipping pig-”

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“You haafu fools don’t deserve the Japanese blood in you!”

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'To give one's life to one's country, for the greater good of all - it's the greatest sacrifice' 'Those girls should know better than to flaunt themselves like that' 'He sacrificed himself to save thousands of others. -’a husband needs to provide more than just money to put food on the table’ ‘yes, because that’s what husbands do. They don’t stay out drinking when their wife’s pregnant. I stared at the boy, unable to move. I felt it was my duty as a doctor and as a member of this community to stay and face the inevitable consequences. if you are truly a man of honour, you’ll know to hold your tongue and never speak of the epidemic prevention laboratory again. ’honor duty pride, Harada would have sacrificed all those things for the woman he loved’

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Ibaraki choosing to go into the camp, rather than going back to Japan  Ibaraki choosing work over Kayoko  Ibaraki having not told Kayoko about his work life  Harada choosing to stay in the camp and hoping to see Minnie again  Ibaraki choosing to follow in his Choice dad’s footsteps, regardless of the pressure  Ibaraki’s choice to not tell Sister Bernice about the events in Japan  Choosing to write a letter to the newspaper, about the Epidemic Prevention Laboratory in Tokyo  Ibaraki choosing to snap at Sister Bernice - Ibaraki chose to be close friends with the half-cast group Guilt + - Stan gets Ibaraki to write a Atonement letter to Isabelle apologising and informing her upon what has happened. - Ibaraki feels guilty for testing sister Bernice’s patience and feels guilty for it. - Even though it was a poor apology, he tried to reconcile with Kayoko after prioritising his lab work over their marriage and her grief. - Ibaraki feels he has failed and feels guilty for working in the labs in Japan working on babies. - Working at the research unit in Tokyo Ibaraki naively thinks he is working to develop vaccines for good purposes, but the opposite is the reality. This horrific past remains a wound that is impossible to forget. By exposing the truth in the 1980’s 

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“Say goodbye to freedom” page 8 “You’re always at work or out late socialising with your colleagues and geishas” page 197 “I longed to tell her about my work.” page 197 “My home is here now, with Minnie. I’ll stay whatever happens” page 223 “All these years we’ve worked together, and I still don’t know who you are.” - Sister Bernice page 219

‘I began to tremble with regret ... I was horrified to think my insensitivity could have led to his death.’ - Ibaraki “A feeling of shame came over me. My past failings as a doctor became clear…” “I became depressed at the thought that my careless behaviour had driven Sister Bernice away...she consumed my thoughts” “...with the feeling of guilt, the pain returned.” ‘I felt stained by my association with the laboratory.’ “Memories disturb my subconscious, like the beating wings of a dove.” 'I had been wrong to leave the kindness of the human touch to Sister Bernice and others. In keeping my silence, I hadn't exercised the very quality that makes us human: our capacity to understand each other'. 'Why could I never do anything

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The Role of Women

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Authority + Power

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he redeems himself. Ibaraki writing the letter to the press exposing Japan's wartime atrocities at Unit 731 Ibaraki vows to start anew on the return journey to Japan Expected to cook, clean, take care of her husband. Kayoko follows domestic values of cleaning and cooking but also challenges societal norms of a woman. Kayoko independent Sister Bernice independent Patriarchal society (male dominant) Sister Bernice’s sense of duty to do God’s work. Authority and respecting it is central to Japanese culture In time of war authority is very important Yamada - Loveday Kimura Tokyo, disease research lab Mayor Mori Major Locke Aussie authority more relaxed than the highly structured and strict Japanese Attempt to recreate the Japanese structure of authority and hierarchy while in Loveday Johnny Chang and the half casts respond more positively to the more relaxed authoritative nature of the Australian security guards The Japanese government is completely misusing authority and power to fund biological warfare development

right? ...I always failed the people I cared about'. “...but more than that, I think he was burdened by the knowledge that this behaviour had indirectly caused Stan’s death.” - Kayoko doing the rice paper walls was a surprise to Ibaraki. Ibaraki “You did this by yourself?” Kayoko “of course. Why? Didn’t think I could?” - Kayoko doesn’t conform to society/ cultural expectations when standing up for the two girls at Setsubun. - “Sir, these girls are just young. They mean no harm.” - Kayoko leaving Ibaraki- goes against societal norms   

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Very hierarchical structure Ibaraki Challenges authority with his letter to the paper Ibaraki slowly goes from blindly following to questioning authority in Loveday Johnny strongly challenges the Japanese authority while interned in Loveday “Think I don’t know what Haafu means? You fucking emperor worshipping pig” pg 19 “Confidentiality is our number one priority” pg 121 “You'll know to hold your tongue and never speak of the epidemic prevention laboratory again.” pg 211 “They [half casts] spent most of their time chatting to the guards and officers, which didn’t help their reputation at camp” pg93 Setsubun- the military personal grabbing the girl is a misuse of

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Yamada misuses authority and power then he attacks Stan, and when they plan to “silence” him

power....