41 pages • 1 hour read
David PatneaudeThin Wood Walls
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2004A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapters 5-7 and Part 2, Chapters 8-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1 - Part 2
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary
On December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. Joe’s mother receives a phone call about her husband. He’s being held in Seattle but will be transferred to an undisclosed location. She visits him in Seattle, but has no further information to share with her family. The family receives a letter from Mr. Hanada; it’s been blacked out and redacted by the government. Joe is determined to get the family Christmas tree from the Spooners, but his mother doesn’t know how to drive. Joe and Mike clean out the root cellar and wonder if their father is being held in a dank and cold cell. They are surprised by Mr. Spooner, who brings them their Christmas tree.
The news continues to get worse. Prominent Seattle businessmen want to sever ties with the Japanese farmers that provide produce and get rid of Japanese business owners. When Ray asks Joe if it’s possible that the FBI knows something about Joe’s father that Joe doesn’t, Joe and Ray get into a physical fight. Ray apologizes and assures Joe that he’s on his side.
Christmas is lonely without Mr. Hanada, but Joe is happy that he got the gift he wanted: a telegraph system he can use for his Morse code with Ray.
Joe’s father is transferred to another location out-of-state. The Hanadas go to the train station, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mr. Hanada being transported. The train is darkened by blinds, and Joe is unable to say goodbye. Japanese American families are called upon to give up their radios, cameras, and weapons to the government.
Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary
An FBI agent shows up at the Hanada house to search for contraband. Joe’s mother hides their radio, but the agent finds Mike’s BB gun and Joe’s telegraph toy. The agent also takes Mr. Hanada’s papers, but he doesn’t find the hidden root cellar.
Mr. Hanada has been transferred to a concentration camp in Montana.
As the newspapers fuel more xenophobia against Japanese individuals, school becomes more difficult for Joe and his friend Mae. When he sees Mae crying, Joe writes her a haiku to keep her spirits up.
On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, allowing the military to control civilian operations in areas like the West Coast and remove people from their homes. Rumors abound that Japanese Americans will be forcibly moved to detention centers in other states. Joe has a hard time believing the rumors because “[t]his was America. It couldn’t happen here” (72). The bank accounts of Issei individuals are frozen. Mike is angry that the government hasn’t given Japanese Americans the opportunity to prove their loyalty; Nisei men are not allowed to join the military.
Joe revisits his journal after many weeks of not writing. He forces himself to describe what’s been happening and writes a haiku. A bully corners Joe and Ray and tells Ray that he needs to stick with his “own kind.”
On March 18, 1942, the War Relocation Authority, an American government agency, is established to enforce Executive Order 9066 and imprison Japanese Americans in camps.
Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary
Joe walks to Mr. Spooner’s farm, where the fields are empty of workers. With relocation orders imminent, the Japanese labor force that Mr. Spooner relied on have stopped coming to work. Japanese Americans are being punished with a curfew and travel restrictions. Soldiers hang up flyers informing Japanese American individuals of their impending relocation and the belongings they’re allowed to take. The Hanadas are given their prisoner numbers and date of departure; they’re being sent to a camp in California. Ray’s family offers to store some of the belongings the Hanadas can’t bring with them; the Hanadas are forced to sell the rest at a low price. Joe says goodbye to his teachers. Ray’s family drives the Hanadas to the train station, where other Japanese Americans wait to board. Ray gives Joe a bag of marbles and chocolate bars.
Part 2, Chapter 8 Summary
Two months later, the Hanada family is relocated out of Pinedale, California to a new destination: Tule Lake. Joe hopes that Tule Lake will be less hot and have a more forgiving landscape, maybe some familiar faces. On the train, Joe tries to write. He hasn’t written since leaving his home in Washington. He’s interrupted by a friendly soldier named Sandy who tells him about the beautiful parts of California, gives him chocolate bars, and encourages his writing. Sandy also advises Joe’s brother Mike to be patient and work through his anger.
Part 2, Chapter 9 Summary
When they arrive in Tule Lake, Joe is disheartened to see barracks, barbed wire fences, and a stark landscape. The Hanadas are placed in barracks with bunk beds. Joe tries to play with his marbles, but the dust covers and buries them.
At the mess hall, Joe reunites with a former schoolmate, Phillip Yatsuda. Phillip shows Joe and Mike the hospital, the school, and the cemetery. Tule Lake is much bigger than Pinedale, with a population of 15,000 incarcerated Japanese Americans. Joe also runs into Mae, which gives him a tiny piece of joy. Soldiers tell the Hanadas that they’re in Tule Lake for their own protection.
Part 1, Chapters 5-7 and Part 2, Chapters 8-9 Analysis
The lead-up to the Hanada family incarceration is insidious. Patneaude demonstrates The Dangers of Racism and Xenophobia, and how smaller evils left unchecked turn into larger evils. He also presents an alternate way of being through use of role models such as Mr. Spooner and Sandy, the soldier who is kind to Joe.
Patneaude shows how evils such as concentration camps come into being through incremental steps. These evils start with smaller yet significant aggressions, leading to larger systematic abuse. Such actions include barring Japanese Americans from work, freezing their bank accounts, and enforcing a curfew, which single them out, dehumanize them, and send the message that they shouldn’t be treated as citizens, neighbors, and friends. The rapidity with which these evils escalate suggests that xenophobia and racism have existed beneath the surface of polite American society all along.
Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in 1942, giving the American military power over certain sections of the country. Though Executive Order 9066 didn’t explicitly state that Japanese Americans were enemies in need of expulsion, it granted the military sweeping powers and led to the forcible removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans in concentration camps. Notably, no Germans or Italians were incarcerated, even though US enemies in World War II included Germany and Italy. Why then, did only the Japanese get targeted? Part of the reason was geographical proximity; the likelihood of Germany or Italy reaching US shores in an attack was small. But racism was also a factor. While German and Italian Americans could pass for white Americans, Japanese Americans are Asian. World War II is infamous for its pogroms, or massacres and attacks against Jewish individuals, and concentration camps set up by Nazi Germany. Though the United States fought against Germany, they used similar tactics, setting up their own camps to imprison Japanese American individuals.
Joe feels that something like a concentration camp can’t happen in a place like America, which celebrates radical freedom. The incarceration of Japanese Americans reveals the hypocrisy of American democracy.
Mike and Joe are American citizens, but they are treated as enemies. Mike’s anger reflects his age and loss of control, particularly given his imprisonment. Mike wants to prove his Americanness but is barred from serving in the military; there is no way to fight for his family or himself. Nisei like Joe and Mike are both victims of false promises of citizenship and the young Americans who will rebuild their community after the war.
Despite the cruelty of Joe’s neighbors and classmates, Patneaude highlights that people are capable of kindness and compassion. Characters like Mr. Spooner show an alternate and better way of being, proving that cruelty, xenophobia, and racism are not necessarily inherent. Mr. Spooner is directly impacted by the discrimination against the Japanese American community. His farm suffers without the vital manual labor provided by Japanese field laborers, demonstrating how incarcerating thousands negatively impacts the economy. That the government is willing to sacrifice their economic well-being in a time of war illustrates the depth of their racism against Japanese Americans. In contrast, Mr. Spooner is an advocate for his workers and cares about the Hanadas as people. He brings the Hanada family the Christmas tree, a symbol of Joe’s connection to his father and their hope for the future.
Ray and his family are also allies to the Hanada family. Though Ray has his own fears and skepticism about Joe’s father, he is a steadfast and loyal friend to Joe. Ray sticks up for Joe and stands by him, even when he’s bullied and seen as a traitor. Ray’s courage demonstrates genuine goodness and maturity for his age, and makes him a role model for all white people. Another ally comes in the unexpected form of a soldier. Sandy guards over incarcerated Japanese Americans, but his job conflicts with his beliefs. Sandy is kind to Joe and Mike and encourages them to persevere. He acknowledges the validity of Mike’s anger while helping him maintain hope. Sandy demonstrates that not all Americans are against Japanese Americans. Sandy also teaches the reader not to judge based on appearances.
