2025-06-032025-06-032025-05-19https://repository.tcu.edu/handle/116099117/67187During World War II, and shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the American government unjustly incarcerated over 120,000 Japanese American citizens due to rampant, racist, wartime hysteria which branded Japanese Americans as potential enemies of the state. After the war, internment narratives authored by Japanese Americans were published, sharing with the public their internment experiences and the traumas they bore due to the time they spent incarcerated. In my thesis, I analyze two of these narratives, applying the lens of existentialism to my analysis. First, I share a brief overview of Japanese American history, including an explanation of what the Japanese American internment was. Next, I share details and photographs I took while on site visits to the grounds of where two internment camps used to stand. Finally, I share my analyses (made through the use of the lens of existentialism) of two internment narratives, They Called Us Enemy and Farewell to Manzanar.Japanese American internmentWorld War IIexistentialismdocumentary photographyincarceration literature