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Herbert Nicholson
Mrs. Rugen is George’s fourth grade teacher. She’s chilly and rude to George, ignoring him in class and punishing him for minor infractions on the playground. Eventually, George overhears her referring to him by a racist slur. George never learns exactly why Mrs. Rugen treated him so terribly. But he suggests that in the decades after World War II, there were lots of people like Mrs. Rugen who harbored racist sentiments toward Japanese Americans, simply because the U.S. cast all people of Japanese descent as the enemy.
Mrs. Rugen Quotes in They Called Us Enemy
The They Called Us Enemy quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Rugen or refer to Mrs. Rugen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
They Called Us Enemy
Quotes
I had an unsettling feeling...
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America...”
That her calling me “Jap boy” had something to do with our time in camp.
“...and to the republic for which it stands...”
I was old enough by then to understand that camp was something like jail...but could not fully grasp what we had done to be sent there.
The guilt which surrounded our internment made me feel like I deserved to be called that nasty epithet.
“One nation, indivisible...
“with liberty and justice for all.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Mrs. Rugen Quotes in They Called Us Enemy
The They Called Us Enemy quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Rugen or refer to Mrs. Rugen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
They Called Us Enemy
Quotes
I had an unsettling feeling...
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America...”
That her calling me “Jap boy” had something to do with our time in camp.
“...and to the republic for which it stands...”
I was old enough by then to understand that camp was something like jail...but could not fully grasp what we had done to be sent there.
The guilt which surrounded our internment made me feel like I deserved to be called that nasty epithet.
“One nation, indivisible...
“with liberty and justice for all.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
