David Guterson's Snow Falling on a Race

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David Guterson's Snow Falling on a Race

The novel Snow Falling on Cedars, written by David Guterson, is about the events that occurred during Pearl Harbor. The novel focuses on the trials and tribulations that the Japanese race had to deal with in America. During the war there were many American concentration camps that held Japanese and Japanese-Americans. The novel is about a Japanese man who is on trial for a murder that he did not commit. The novel exploits all of the fallacies of Japanese treatment, which nearly led to the conviction of an innocent man. The man in the novel was nearly convicted for the sole reason that he was Japanese, and because he was of Japanese lineage he never had a chance for a fair trial.

During World War II there was a great deal of racial tension between white Americans and Japanese. During this time there were many Japanese families that had migrated to the West Coast of the United States. Before the war there was slight tension towards Japanese people, but during and after the war the tension greatly increased. There was nothing negative about the majority of the Japanese people, the only problem was that the United States citizens and the government were unsure where the Japanese people took a stance as far as the war. One publication stated, “They are merely a group of American residents who happen to have Japanese ancestors and who happened to be living in a potential combat zone shortly after the outbreak of war” (Seattle). Most Japanese passively handled the treatment they received from the government. There were only a few racially based cases made against the United States government.

Because of the war between the United States and Japan, many people on the West Coast...

... middle of paper ...

...beautiful green growth, and when the United States fell upon the Japanese people, the growth of their race was set back for many years.

Works Cited

Guterson, David. Snow Falling on Cedars. New York: Vintage Books, 1995

"Jap Farm Land is Transferred." The San Francisco News 3 April, 1942. 15 April, 2002 <http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist8/land2.html>.

"Olson Wants All Japs Moved." The San Francisco News 6 March, 1942. 15 April, 2002 <http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist8/evac3.html>.

Roosevelt, Franklin D. "Executive Order 9066 - Japanese American Internment Order.". 19 February, 1942. Center for Educational Telecommunications. 15 April, 2002. <http://www.cetel.org/1942_9066.html>.

Seattle Council of Churches. Relocation of Japanese-Americans. May, 1943. 15 April, 2002 <http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/harmony/Documents/wrapam.html>.

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