Chapter 11, YES YES, NO NO Summary and Analysis

That next February, the government requires the Loyalty Oath be signed by everyone seventeen years and older. The Oath requires that they be willing to serve in the Armed Forces on active duty. Also, they are to swear total allegiance to the government of the United States. This Loyalty Oath brings much argument and divisiveness to Manzanar. Many men feel the Oath is humiliating. Though the Oath helps to alleviate the crowding in the camps, it is difficult to accept, even for men who served in the Army during World War I. Many become militantly anti-American.

This Oath becomes the most disruptive issue of the camp. Men are divided as to whether the Oath should be signed, or if individual barracks blocks or the whole camp should refuse to sign the Oath. Men...