Snow Falling On Cedars Racism

Everyone has experienced prejudice sometime in their life. It has been an undeniable force in society ever since history was recorded. Even the most open-minded people and enlightened organizations can be blamed as being prejudice sometime or another. However, prejudice always takes its toll from these people who form opinions beforehand or without any facts. The novel, Snow Falling On Cedars, take place during a time in which Americans are prejudice towards Japanese people. David Guterson’s novel takes place several years after World War II when hatred towards the Japanese filled Americans’ hearts from the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. During the time period from 1940 to 1955 there was evidence of

The autobiography illustrates personal experiences of discrimination and prejudice while also reporting the political occurrences during the United States’ involvement in World War II. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States government unleashed unrestrained contempt for the Japanese residing in the nation. The general public followed this train of thought, distrusting the Japanese and treating them like something less than human. In a country of freedom and justice, no coalition stepped up to defend the people who had lived there most of or all of their lives; rather, people took advantage of the Japanese evacuation to take their property and belongings. The government released demeaning propaganda displaying comical Japanese men as monsters and rats, encouraging the public to be vigilant and wary toward anyone of Japanese descent. The abuse of the Japanese during this period was taken a little too lightly, the government apologizing too late and now minor education of the real cruelty expressed toward the nation’s own citizens. Now we see history repeating itself in society, and if we don’t catch the warning signs today, history may just come full

Also, even though the Japanese are a main part of the story, they were portrayed as isolated and reclusive. They were very cold to other people, a result of a mindset of superiority. As they only associated with others of their race, they were untrusting and distant from others. Kabuo didn’t even trust the lawyer who was to keep him out of prison. As the book switches time frames, there were subtle or evident signs of challenges of racial tension everywhere. You could see how this theme had effects on everything in a slightly different manner, depending on the situation.

According to the novel Farewell to Manzanar, “I smiled and sat down, suddenly aware of what being of Japanese ancestry was going to be like. I wouldn’t be faced with physical attack, or with overt shows of hatred. Rather, I would be seen as someone foreign, or as someone other than American, or perhaps not be seen at all” (158). After the bombing at Pearl Harbor, the government saw all Japanese-Americans as enemies even though most, if not all of them, had done nothing wrong. They were taken from their homes and send to awful internment camps where they were treated as prisoners. The Japanese-Americans stayed in the camps four years, just because of where they come from. During this time Americans completely turned against the Japanese people living in their country and bombarded the news with anti-Japanese propaganda which showed how much racial discrimination there was, even back in the 1940s. While Farewell to Manzanar explores this concept, there are many questions in which the reader is left with. First, the Japanese-American Internment was fueled by more than war time panic, which reveals the question: what role did prejudice play in the Japanese-American Relocation? Then, there is the question: what modern day connections can you make with this time in American history? Lastly, this story leaves the reader with the question: do you think something like this could happen today? Farewell to Manzanar gives a glimpse of the lives of Japanese-Americans in the 1940s and

Throughout the book, the racial tensions between the people of Japanese descent and the people of Caucasian descent are clearly evident. After World War Two, relations between Americans and Japanese Americans are strained, since the Japanese were placed in internment camps for the war. Ever since then, the people view themselves as two separate groups of people, and not as a whole population. In the trial, one fisherman makes a racist remark at Kabuo. ‘"Suckers all look alike," said Dale. "Never could tell them

Startled by the surprise attack on their naval base at Pearl Harbor and anxious about a full-fledged Japanese attack on the United States’ West Coast, American government officials targeted all people of Japanese descent, regardless of their citizenship status, occupation, or demonstrated loyalty to the US. As my grandfather—Frank Matsuura, a nisei born in Los Angeles, California and interned in the Granada War Relocation Center (Camp Amache)—often

“Herd ‘em up, pack ‘em off, and give ‘em the inside room in the badlands”(Hearst newspaper column). Many Americans were feeling this way toward people of Japanese descent after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The feelings Americans were enduring were motivated largely by wartime hysteria, racial prejudice, and a failure of political leadership. The Japanese-Americans were being denied their constitutional rights, they were provided poor living conditions in these relocation camps, and by the time apologies and reparations were paid to the Japanese, it was too late.

On December 7,1941 Japan raided the airbases across the islands of Pearl Harbour. The “sneak attack” targeted the United States Navy. It left 2400 army personnel dead and over a thousand Americans wounded. U.S. Navy termed it as “one of the great defining moments in history”1 President Roosevelt called it as “A Day of Infamy”. 2 As this attack shook the nation and the Japanese Americans became the immediate ‘focal point’. At that moment approximately 112,000 Persons of Japanese descent resided in coastal areas of Oregon, Washington and also in California and Arizona.3

The early 1940’s were tough times for many Japanese living in America. This is all due to the Japanese and American conflict in World War II, after Japan decided to bomb Pearl Harbor. After this incident many Japanese-Americans were discriminated against and were thought of as bad Japanese instead of the Americans they were. A lot of these Japanese-Americans were unfairly sent to internment camps in the United States. This is also true of the incidents that take place in the fictional novel Snow Falling On Cedars, by David Guterson.

In a community of “five thousand damp souls” (Guterson 5) as described by David Guterson in his novel, Snow Falling on Cedars. A community that concentrated a variety of ethnicity, among them was both Whites and Japanese. As a result of the racial differences, racism has came into existences and have impacted the life of both children and adult in that isolated island called San Piedro. It is responsible for the internment of Kabuo, Hatsue, and their families, the breakup of Hatsue and Ishmael, Kabuo's loss of his land, and perhaps for his indictment for murder.

To contrast Mrs. Shigemura taught Hatsue that white men were "dangerous egomaniacs" and that they had "fantasises" about Japanese girls and that it "distorted their sex drives". Hatsue should "marry a boy of her own kind whose heart is strong and good".This shows us that all Japanese people don't take the abuse. They practice their views like the white racists.

1. How does the author describe racism in America towards Japan in the Second World War?

Also, Kabuo knew that “they’re going to want to see me hang no matter what the truth is…. They hate anyone who looks like the soldiers they fought” (391). That quote seemingly holds a lot of truth. Much of World War II was waged against Germany, and their persecution of the Jews. Ironically, the most vocal bigot in this story (Etta Heine) is not only of German descent, but was actually born in Germany. Yet, there appears to be no prejudice against Germans on San Piedro Island as a result of the War. This provides a strong argument to the idea that white people were racist towards Japanese people also because physically they looked different. In all of World War II, no person of Japanese ancestry living in the United States, Alaska, or Hawaii was ever charged with any act of espionage or sabotage. This fact is at very least disturbing. Because of the internment camps, Hatsue and Kabuo are forced to spent their wedding night in a public room with only a curtain, and a radio to stop the details of their evening from traveling through the thin walls. They have no choice on what to wear, eat, or do.

           In the novel, David Guterson spent significant amounts of time exploring the way language can be used to convey a story line. Guterson went back and forth with scenes from past and present in the novel, combining both and portraying them thickly with literary devices. One of the most predominant literary devices in the novel was the use of imagery. The prevalent image of the story is the snow as it fell upon the cedars that populated San Piedro Island. Guterson invoked this image on page after page throughout the novel, making it apparent that the snow veiling the cedar forests could be a metaphor for the way prejudices veil honesty and truth in human behavior. The fact that the island was stricken with the worst snowstorm in twenty years during Kabuo Miyamoto's trial was further evidence to such a

America’s initial response to the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 was that of disbelief and shock. This attack took place on a Sunday morning and what surprised many was the fact that a tiny island nation situated in the Asian mainland could bring out that kind of a feat thousands of miles away from its actual homeland. A major part of this shock and disbelief was based mainly on the stereotypical view that the Americans had on the Japanese people – short people with oriental features that appeared exaggerated.