Sisters Under the Rising Sun

The sun is the novel’s central symbol, featured even in its title, where its descriptor reveals its significance: Japan is commonly known as the land of the rising sun. The intense heat of the tropical sun thus symbolizes the oppressive conditions in the internment camps, and Morris often personifies the sun and associates it with violent imagery: It is “relentless in its attempts to burn [the internees] alive” (44), and it “pound[s] them all into hopeless submission” (84). The brutality of the sun and the brutality of the Japanese army become one and the same when Seki punishes first Norah and then Ray and Valerie by forcing them to spend an entire day exposed to the sun’s beams—a punishment that fuses the sun’s literal and symbolic significance.

Nevertheless, the sun also serves as a source of hope. The region’s climate is partly characterized by a monsoon season, and the heavy rains cause practical difficulties in the camp—clogged drains, mosquito-borne illnesses, etc.—while depleting morale. In this context, the sun is a welcome sight; Margaret at one point cheers a struggling internee by telling her to look up, remarking, “Soon the clouds will be gone, and the sun will come out” (195).