What is the American Dream? It's the idea that people can come to America with nothing and create something out of nothing; pulling yourself up by the boot straps. “The Buddha in the Attic” is a poetic novel written by Julie Otsuka that tells of a group of Japanese brides chasing the American dream. The novel is written poetically, detailing the experiences of Japanese immigrants during the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the internment of all people of Japanese descent in the United States. Julie Otsuka uses multiple literary devices such as assonance and imagery to convey a group of women chasing a seemingly unattainable dream. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Otsuka writes this book with a unique lyrical voice. The book is written in a first person plural that describes experiences from a group perspective, not just one person at a time. This collective voice, in first person plural, is able to provide the reader with a complete picture of the Japanese immigrant experience. Assonance is used to highlight that this group of women had a collective experience as brides from Japan, we stopped writing home to our mothers. We lost weight and became slim. We stopped bleeding. We stopped dreaming. We have stopped wishing. We just worked, that's all. We gobbled up our meals three times a day without saying a word to our husbands so we could run back to the fields (37) The emphasis on "we" and repeating it multiple times ensures that the reader understands that these feelings were universal among the group . The use of assonance emphasizes that the book is written from a collective perspective, in the first person plural. Otsuka's goal was to not have a main character and prevent her from telling everyone's story in equal detail. Otsuka not only makes sure that the perspective from which the book is written is known, but also describes the scenes vividly to the reader. The use of imagery paints a complete picture of the experience of this group of Japanese immigrant brides. An example of imagery is found in the first section of the book: “On the boat we slept downstairs in third class, where it was dirty and dark… our beds were narrow metal shelves stacked on top of each other and our mattresses were hard and thin and darkened by the stains of other journeys, of other lives” (4). This helps paint the picture of the conditions under which women arrived in America. This example of imagery helps the reader empathize with the women and understand why they wanted to move to America to achieve their American dream. Overall it is told from a first person plural with the lack of a main character to take control of the novel, this also shows the dehumanization done by the American government during this time. All people of Japanese descent, even American citizens, were thrown into internment camps. The section entitled The Children, discusses the fact that their children wanted to lose their identity as Japanese. They have adapted to Western cultural norms and learned to forget their standard Japanese traditions. The novel's collective point of view represents the marginalization of women in a male-dominated society. By having a collective group voice, rather than focusing on the development of separate voices, the novel foregrounds the universal experiences of women and leaves individual women anonymous. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get an essay.