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Summary and ThemeMonica's Autobiography is really about one issue that guides and affects her life in many ways. This is not a developmental issue or a problem that affects her in any way, it is simply her face. Yes, you heard it, her face! Monica is a Nisei, that is a second generation American born child of Japanese immigrants. She lives with her parents near their hotel, which her father owns and manages. They live in downtown Seattle near the ocean in the middle of the Japanese community. Monica's early life is a struggle between finding what fits her better, being a Japanese or being an American. She struggles to find a balance between the two and discover if she fits better as an American or Japanese. This leads to issues, mostly of her attempting to fit into an American society while her Japanese born parents try to conform her to the strict rituals of Japanese culture. the biggest impact that her descent had on her life was when every person of Japanese descent was forced to evacuate the West Coast and live in a camp. However negative that might seem to a young, college aged Monica it is actually there where she learns to embrace both her given heritages. That is the true theme of her Autobiography. That no matter what you have been given in life or where you come from if you accept that each thing in your life can be positive to you if you choose it to be. That is exactly what Monica did when she embraced both her given race and her title of American citizen.
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Publication
Sone, Monica Itoi. Nisei Daughter. Seattle: U of Washington, 1953. Print.