American Fears and Bigotry Toward Essay

This sort of behavior and scapegoating was the intellectual and cultural "easy way out" for many Americans looking for solace from the events taking place thousands of miles away, affecting the entire country. In the fog of war, as writer Barbre (2000) puts it, mistakes are made and generalizations are easily placed into existence. When Americans were confused and scared, they looked to the easiest form of comfort, the alienation of the outsider or the "other."

Sexual Projection and the Internment of the Japanese-Americans

Writer Renteln (1995) explores the role that sexual projection had in the dealing with Japanese-Americans in internment camps during WWII. This can be directly related to the themes within the book Snow Falling of Cedars due to the fact that Americans used their fear of the outsider (Japanese and Japanese-Americans) to project their own fears and misgivings about their sexuality and feelings of inadequacy. As author Renteln (1995) points out, much of the propaganda that was circulating during this time period is sexual in nature. This is to say it shows a stereotypical Japanese male taking advantage of a nude or otherwise extremely vulnerable white female.This same imagery was used as propaganda during the time of slavery and well into the 20 thcentury to drum up anti-African-American sentiment.

Americans were curious about Japanese-American women, and their vulnerability during this period of alienation and internment was quite explosive for many white American males. Taking advantage of people who were though to be taking advantage of white women sexually (Japanese soldiers in propaganda) was part of the method of expressing fear, hatred, and America's own sexual and cultural vulnerability. The same can be said for the Red Scare as well as during the rise of African-American culture, which, like the Japanese threat, was a direct cultural and sexual threat for white Americans and their status quo.

Works Cited

Barbre, C. (2000). "Review: Films: The Straight Story, Snow Falling on Cedars."

Journal of Religion and Health. Vol. 39, No. 4. pp. 383-385.

Renteln, A.D. (1995). "A Psychohistorical Analysis of the Japanese-American

Internment." Human….....