Snow Falling on Cedars Essay -- Snow Falling Cedars Japanese Essays

Snow Falling on Cedars 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 this hatred and prejudice in internment camps and laws passed against Japanese-Americans. Snow Falling On Cedars has many parallels between the fictional prejudice in the novel and the factual prejudice of the time period. There are many examples of prejudice towards the Japanese from 1940-1955. These examples of prejudice were based on hatred from the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Discrimination towards these people came in the form of cruelty from our government and fellow Americans. One example of discrimination towards Japanese-Americans that came from our government was signed by President Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. The President signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the Army to â€Å"designate military areas from which â€Å"any persons may be excluded.† Although Japanese-Americans were put into these internment camps, the words â€Å"Japanese,† or â€Å"Japanese Americans† never appeared in the order. Afterwards, on March 9, 1942, Public Law 503 was put into decree to enforce Roosevelt’s Execu... ...tim of discrimination. Since he was the same race as the people who were involved in the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Kabuo never stood a chance at a fair trial. Works Cited "Children of the Camps Project." Internment History. . Public Broadcasting System. 1999. <http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/camps.html>. "Exploring the Japanese American Internment through Film and the Internet." National Japanese American Historical Society . 2002. National Asian American Telecommunications Association. 16 April 2002. <http://www.jainternment.org/ ww2/eo9066.html>. Guterson, David. Snow Falling On Cedars. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Tsang, Rocky. "Japanese Americans Internment in Arkansas." Arkansas Memory Project. 15 April 1999. University of Central Arkansas. 16 April 2002. <http://a sms.k12.ar.us/armem/tsang/INDEX3.HTM>.