Thin Wood Walls

The tension of the novel begins early. With Joe as the first-person narrator, the reader sees events through a child’s eyes. Although Mr. and Mrs. Hanada may have suspected that the war in Europe would impact them, Joe was living in ignorant bliss. His eyewitness account reveals the shock a child experiences when events out of their control transform their lives. It also shows how vulnerable one becomes as a target of racism.

The first chapter introduces the institutionalized racism and xenophobia prevalent in America during World War II. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act became law and gave legal permission for Americans to be racist toward the Asian community. The act prohibited people from Asian countries to receive American citizenship and created segregation around Asian American housing and labor. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was based on xenophobic and racist ideas of people from Asia flooding America, stealing jobs from white men, and defiling white women. A large number of Chinese immigrants helped build the railway system that allowed for Western expansion in America in the 19th century, yet these men were reviled. The Chinese Exclusion Act was not repealed until 1943, when China allied with the United States in World War II, and it wasn’t until 1952 that Japanese immigrants were granted pathways to citizenship. Though Mike and Joe are citizens because they were born in America, their parents and grandmother are not allowed to own property or earn American citizenship.

The novel references the attack on Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force struck Pearl Harbor, an important American naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii, with bombs. Over 2,000 Americans were killed in the surprise attack, which brought America into World War II. A ramification of this event was the racism that quickly developed against the Japanese community in America, which Joe experiences at school and in his neighborhood.

The rapidity with which Joe’s schoolmates and formerly friendly neighbors turn against him and his family illustrates how people have deeply entrenched racist and xenophobic attitudes. Many people cast suspicion on the Hanadas simply for being Japanese. Joe’s father’s arrest implies that being Japanese is a crime; Criminalizing heritage and race encourages Americans to become paranoid about their Japanese neighbors.

 During troubled times, governments use scapegoats to unify a majority against a minority, such as when the Nazis vilified Jewish individuals and blamed them for Germany’s economic hardship, or when the Americans imprisoned Japanese Americans during World War II. This makes the majority feel a false sense of control. There is no reason to fear the Hanadas, yet Joe’s neighbors and schoolmates quickly blame them for the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Joe, like other Americans, is scared that Japan will attack again. His safe world has also been obliterated by the Pearl Harbor attack. Joe doesn’t know how to understand the war or this new threat to American security. He, his family, and other Japanese American families in the 1940s are doubly afraid. They fear both another Japanese attack and the hatred they experience from their fellow Americans. The Hanadas’ experience with racism and xenophobia raises a question: Did their neighbors and classmates always feel that the Hanadas’ were suspect and unworthy of American citizenship?

The Christmas tree acts as a symbol, representing the Hanada family unit and their hope for the future. It also foreshadows their separation. As a tree starts dying after it’s unrooted, so too does the Hanada family spirit die after their own unrooting. The tree also foreshadows the larger unrooting of Japanese Americans from their homes and their imprisonment in the camps.

The haiku, a poem composed of 17 syllables in three lines of five, seven, and five syllables, acts as another symbol. The haiku has its roots in Japanese poetry; its strict structure is meant to evoke images of the natural world. A haiku requires the poet to be highly focused and economical in their use of language. Joe’s writing of haikus represents both his connection to Japanese culture and his proclivity to capture the right words. Joe’s writing is important to him. Writing gives him joy; it’s a talent he uses at both at school and in his personal life. His father’s gift of the journal shows Mr. Hanada’s faith in both Joe and the power of storytelling. The journal also foreshadows more trouble to come.