How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
As he ogled the fancy cakes in the baker's window, he was startled by his reflection in the glass. How odd he looked, in his Western clothes! A movement, also reflected in the glass, caught his eye, and his gaze shifted behind him to a handful of boys—the same boys he'd seen earlier. He watched quietly as the boys made faces and rude gestures behind his back. One pulled at his eyelids, making his eyes into ugly slits in his face. Another bowed and bobbed. The other boys doubled over laughing.
Is this how he looked to people—strange and grotesque? Did everyone see him this way? (3.15.24-25)
This moment could be seen as the moment when Manjiro first becomes conscious of "race" in the way we know it today: full of (false) stereotypes and unjust treatment. But what does Manjiro really consider "strange and grotesque"? On one hand, it's pretty easy to say that he finds the boys making faces at him disgusting. On the other hand, is he more sensitive to the whole thing because he himself thinks he looks "odd…in his Western clothes"?