Survivorship

In the book Farewell to Manzanar, there is a large underlying theme of survivorship throughout the entire book. There are many different ways in which someone can survive. In "FTM" many factors influenced survival. From living conditions to hospital conditions to family dynamics. All of these things impacted whether a person survived an internment. If the living conditions were bad than it was easy to get sick, but if the hospital conditions were bad than it was hard to get better. So if both were bad than the results would be fatality. This was often the case in Manzanar and pregnant women. The family dynamics were often a factor as well. Many of the families fell apart while in the camp. This could affect survival rate because the members would often feel lonely and would not want to continue. All of these things affected survival in the Manzanar internment camp. For those that survived it was hard to go back to the outside world. Many wanted to stay in the camp for fear of what would happen to them when the left. Many felt safer in Manzanar. So for the Japanese, survival was not only hard in the camp, it was also difficult on the outside as well.