Journal Entry 67: Betrayal

How is the speaker in Dwight Okita’s poem, “In Response to Executive Order 9066,” betrayed by her friend? How does she respond to the betrayal? What does her response mean? Do you feel that it was an effective response? Why or why not? Have you ever felt betrayed by a friend? Describe the situation and how you felt about and responded to it.

The narrator in "In Response to Executive Order 9066" was betrayed by her best friend, Denise. Denise and the narrator used to be best friend, but when she heard about the executive order, Denise sat far away from her and blamed her for "giving secrets to the enemy" when the narrator probably never did. She gives her friend some tomato seeds in return and told her friend that when the first tomato ripens, she'll think of her. I think that her response means that even though her friend betrayed her, she still hopes that she will remember her and miss her when she's gone. I think it was not an effective response, because her friend BETRAYED her. I think she should have yelled at Denise or glare at her or curse her. Well, not a long time ago, I told a friend something that I told him not to tell anyone else. Then, another friend of mine told me my friend told him the secret. I then asked the first person if he really DID tell him and he denied, but then my other friend told me that the first person just told him that I asked him if he told him. It was pretty complicated and annoying. I really didn't know who to believe. It was very confusing, but in the end, I found out that all was just misunderstanding and the guy doesn't even really know the "secret". Quite funny, actually, but I did feel betrayed before I found out the whole story.