The Buddha in the Attic

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

CHAPTERS 1-3

Reading Check

1. What is the first thing the women on the boat do?

2. What port does the women’s boat sail into?

3. One of the husbands is described as having a Hiroshima dialect. What does this reveal about his occupation?

4. What does one of the women contract when she drinks water from an irrigation ditch?

5. What do the white women do concerning the Japanese women’s names?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What do the women wonder about on the boat, and what does this show about the experience of being a picture bride?

2. What is the woman from Nagoya’s background? What questions do the other women ask her?

3. What does the repetition of “they took us” refer to, and how does this particular phrasing emphasize the relationship between the women and their husbands?

4. What is the first English word the women learn, and what is the importance of knowing it?

5. How do the white farm owners feel about the Japanese immigrant workers? What does this show about their attitude toward migrant workers?

Paired Resource

“Japanese Picture Brides: Building a Family Through Photographs”

• This short article from PBS SoCal describes the history of Japanese picture brides and how this practice influenced the development of Japanese American communities. The article includes various photographs to supplement the written information.
• This resource connects to the theme of An Ebbing and Flowing Community of Women.
• How did the practice of picture brides impact the dynamics of Japanese American families and communities? What were the motivations of both Japanese men and women to engage in this practice, and how does this resource help supplement the collective experience of the women as seen in The Buddha in the Attic?

“Nihonjin-Machi, San Francisco’s Japanese People Town”

• This page from FoundSF, an online digital archive of San Francisco history, describes the creation of Japanese People Town, or “Japantown” as referred to by non-Japanese, in San Francisco after the influx of Japanese immigrants in the Meiji period.
• This information connects to the theme of Second-Class Citizenship and Family Dynamics.
• The Buddha in the Attic is written in the first-person plural perspective, emphasizing a communal voice and shared experience. How does an understanding of the history of Japanese People Town add dimension to this concept of community?

CHAPTERS 4-5

Reading Check

1. What distinguishes Dr. Ringwalt from others?

2. What does the name Yukiko translate to?

3. What do the women do with their children while they work in the fields?

4. Despite starting to work in the fields at a young age, what do the children still manage to do?

5. According to the children’s superstitions, what does it mean to see a spider in the morning?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. A baby born with the umbilical cord wrapped around their neck represents what sort of sign, and what does this sign imply?

2. What does the midwife do when a baby is born with six fingers? Why is it believed that that defect occurred?

3. Where do the children sleep at night, and how do the women feel about this?

4. How do the Japanese American children perceive white children, and what does this show about the different lives they lead?

5. What do the children learn in American schools, and how does this knowledge impact their relationship to their Japanese culture?

Paired Resource

“Pictures of the Obon Festival of the Dead in Japan”

• This article from National Geographic explains the history and significance of the Obon Festival of the Dead in Japan. It includes pictures of various aspects of this festival.
• In Japan, it is tradition for families to travel to their hometowns to honor their ancestors who have died. How does this article help give context to the peaceful tone in Chapter 5 when the women reflect on honoring their dead children? Additionally, how might this festival be complicated by the fact that the women cannot travel back to their birth places, as the tradition calls for?

CHAPTERS 6-8

Reading Check

1. How long did it take after the war began for rumors of retaliation to reach the Japanese community in California?

2. Why do the women begin burning items like bank statements, diary entries, Buddhist statues, and photographs?

3. What word does the president use in a speech in reference to the Japanese Americans?

4. Why did the Suzukis leave salt outside the door of their house when they left?

5. Where did Haruko leave the small brass Buddha before she left her home?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What were the rumors passed around through Japanese American communities, and what did some families do in response to these rumors?

2. What does Chizuko do in response to the men going missing, and what does this show about the mood in the Japanese American community?

3. Why does Chiyomi’s husband start sleeping with his clothes on, and what is the fear that prompts that decision?

4. What happens to the notices on the telephone poles after the Japanese citizens are taken away? What does this show about the impact this has on the remaining community?

5. Who in the white community seem to take the disappearance of the Japanese people the hardest, and how does this impact their day-to-day experience?

Paired Resource

“Photos: 3 Very Different Views of Japanese Internment”

• This article from NPR’s program Code Switch describes the three different photographers who documented the internment camps during World War II and explores how each photographer’s approach offers a distinct perspective on the experience of Japanese Americans.
• This resource connects to the theme of Second-Class Citizenship and Family Dynamics.
• Analyze how an artist’s own perspective and intention influences the impact their work has on those who view it. How do these three photographers offer multiple perspectives on Japanese American internment, and which perspective(s) seems to intersect with the novel?

Recommended Next Reads 

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

• Otsuka’s 2002 novel was published before The Buddha in the Attic but picks up where it leaves off, starting with Evacuation Order No. 19, which required all Japanese American citizens to report to internment camps in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942. The novel follows one family’s experience as they are forced to leave their home and relocate to an internment camp. Like Buddha, this novel also explores various perspectives, using first-person, first-person plural, and third-person narration at various points.
• Shared themes include The Unique Place of Japanese Women in Racist America and Second-Class Citizenship and Family Dynamics.
• Shared topics include immigration, assimilation, racism, familial relationships, community, struggle, and resilience.
• When the Emperor Was Divine on SuperSummary

Desert Exile by Yoshiko Uchida

• Desert Exile is a memoir by Yoshiko Uchida chronicling her experience as a Japanese American girl before and during World War II. Her memoir includes family photographs as well as photographs from the US National Archives. While the memoir focuses on internment, much of it explores the day-to-day immigrant experience in America.
• Shared themes include An Ebbing and Flowing Community of Women and Second-Class Citizenship and Family Dynamics.
• Shared topics include internment, familial dynamics, womanhood, racism and prejudice, and courage and resilience.
• Desert Exile on SuperSummary