Sisters Under the Rising Sun

Sisters Under the Rising Sun suggests that survival in extreme circumstances is often a collective act rooted in solidarity. In particular, Heather Morris argues that the bonds of chosen sisterhood provide the ultimate defense against the dehumanizing forces of war. The women in the prisoner-of-war camps endure starvation, disease, and brutality, but they do so as an organized and mutually supportive community that actively resists the erosion of their humanity.

The internees counter the chaos of their imprisonment, characterized by arbitrary violence and relocations, by creating an ordered, communal society. Much of this organization is formal and quasi-governmental: For instance, the women establish committees for sanitation, cooking, and other essential tasks to ensure their collective well-being. The distribution of resources, beginning with clothing and culminating in purchased food, is a particularly key concern, as well as one that causes some friction. Nevertheless, the ultimate choice to share these goods underscores both the women’s communal spirit and the resilience of the system they have put in place, which successfully mediates disputes.

A similar communal impulse extends to acts of defiance. When the Japanese officers demand that the Australian nurses become “hostesses” at their club, the nurses collectively refuse. Their defiance results in the Japanese withholding food from the entire camp, but instead of fracturing their community, this punishment strengthens it. The civilian women stand with the nurses, declaring that if the nurses do not eat, no one will. While four of the nurses ultimately choose to comply with the army’s demands to circumvent this crisis, the episode demonstrates the women’s commitment to shared sacrifice, even at the cost of their individual survival. It also shows how this unity transforms the captors’ attempt to divide and conquer into moments that reinforce communal strength. The words of the mother superior—“United we will stand, divided we fall; we will fall together, united” (57)—encapsulate the episode’s significance. The remark adapts a common saying about the importance of unity to the realities of life in the camp, promising not survival, which is always uncertain, but solidarity even in “defeat” and death.

This large-scale solidarity is built upon a foundation of personal bonds. The relationship between sisters Norah and Ena, who protect one another and collaborate to care for June, a motherless child they rescue from the sea, forms the emotional core of the novel. Their tie expands to encompass a chosen family, demonstrating that the instinct to nurture can create new connections even in the face of loss. Indeed, this ethos of care defines the entire community; for example, during their first Christmas in the camps, the nurses host a dinner and celebration for all of the internees. Through these small and large acts of mutual support, Morris suggests that empathy is a form of resistance, allowing the women to preserve their humanity by affirming the value of one another’s lives.