Buddha in the Attic Symbol Analysis

Before the Japanese women are forced to leave their homes, a woman named Haruko leaves a small laughing brass Buddha in her family’s attic. Although this particular tiny Buddha only appears in the novel’s second to last chapter, it comes to represent the persistence and resilience of the Japanese American community in the face of racist American society during World War II. As the women, their husbands, and children prepare to depart from their homes and face the uncertain futures that await them in internment camps, some women leave behind a sack of rice to feed their family upon their assumed return, and others leave sandals outside to make their abandoned homes appear as if someone still lives there. Haruko’s Buddha statue, however, does not serve a practical purpose; Haruko purposely hides it in the attic so that no one will be able to find it, and the narrator reveals that the statue “is still laughing to this day.” In this way, the laughing Buddha in the attic represents Japanese defiance against racist American society—although the government and townsfolk cast Japanese families out of their homes, force them to relocate to internment camps, and begin to forget that Japanese neighbors once lived among them, the hidden laughing Buddha represents how the Japanese families have left their mark on American towns in tangible, unerasable ways.

It’s also important to mention the singularity of the Buddha in the attic. Although many of the women come to the United States with similar brass Buddhas among their belongings, they face pressure to get rid of belongings connected to their Japanese culture as the war mounts and their husbands begin disappearing. Even before wartime, the women remark that many of them “[forget] about Buddha” upon arriving in the United States and having to acclimate to the harsh demands of their laborious jobs. With the loss of culture that happens in the face of societal pressure and difficult working conditions, the continued survival of Haruko’s hidden Buddha emphasizes that the Japanese American community and culture is more resilient than it may initially seem to the townsfolk who easily move on.