Racism is a huge theme through out the novel "Snow Falling on Cedars". It effects the entire story and seems to be the driving force behind every acusation in the book. Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try to get a fair trial unconcious prejudices will always play a role, especially in times of war. Prejudices are many times formed because of the goverment. During World War II 120,000 Japanese Americans (of which 62% were full US citizens) were placed in "Internment Camps ". These camps were very close to prison, giving people no freedoms and treating them as if they had commited horrible crimes. Because they were put in these situations, it lead Americans to beleive that these citizens had done something wrong. If the goverment was afraid enough to lock them up, then should they be also? This lead, for many, to a lifetime of hatred towards Japanese Americans. A more extreme case of this was the Jews being held in concentration camps. Although the motives were different (extermination vs. containment) it gave the public the same impression: that these people had done something wrong. The fact is, they did nothing wrong and these people were just caught in the middle of a war between countries. A war that they had no control over.