Unnamed Japanese

These "Japanese" should be understood to be 'the enemy' that the U.S. in fighting in the Pacific theater of World War Two. The young narrator of "Two Soldiers" as well as his mother refer to the people who attacked Pearl Harbor as "them Japanese" (81, 84). In the later story "Shall Not Perish," the same narrator, a year older, refers to the country's enemy and the forces responsible for his brother's death as "them Japs" (101). Faulkner may intend this change to the more derogatory label to indicate how war dehumanizes people - although the term "Japs" was common and unchallenged during the war years and long afterwards.