As a depiction of coming of age, Farewell to Manzanar records one girl's efforts to reach womanhood with a strong sense of self. Against the backdrop of incarceration, separation from father and, later, brothers and sisters, and enrollment in a school where the teacher pointedly ignores her, Jeanne experiences the usual insecurities and challenges that mold young children into sturdy adults. Resilience and self-sufficiency, both major factors in her success, inspire numerous methods of passing time, coping with deprivation, and learning to live in crowded conditions with a severely dysfunctional family.
An integral part of coming of age is rebellion, an attitude which Jeanne shares with brothers Kiyo and Woody and father, Ko. No less insistent on individuality than the others, Jeanne reaches out to neighborhood children who also live on the periphery of social acceptance — Hispanics who teach her native songs and a lower-class white boy from North Carolina, who kisses as though he means it. Hungering for attention, Jeanne joins the motley array of Cabrillo Homes teenagers and copes well with diversity.
Like Ko, Jeanne's perception of marriage diverges from the accepted pattern. Her role models reveal incremental steps toward assimilation. Granny, who speaks no English, treasures Japanese valuables. Ko, the Wakatsuki black sheep, prefers autonomy in a land of promise to diminished status in Japan, where his father fell short of the Samurai status of Ko's grandfather. Working the American dream to his benefit, Ko garners numerous skills — fishing, farming, denture and furniture making, orchard pruning, and translation. Mama, who was intended as the bride of a farmer, exacerbates his autocratic streak by eloping with him and raising children remarkably similar to their parents in individuality.
