Thin Wood Walls warns about the dangers of racism and xenophobia. Bigotry upends the lives of the Hanada family. The Hanadas are among tens of thousands of other incarcerated Japanese Americans; Patneaude presents them as an example of many people’s experiences.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, signs of xenophobia immediately present in the United States. Suddenly, neighbors who have always been friendly start glaring at the Hanadas, even spitting at them. At school, white kids avoid Joe and some are outright aggressive. Mike faces similar challenges. These reactions reveal two important problems permeating white American society. If white Americans are so quick to judge and villainize their Japanese friends and neighbors, then it is likely that they had always had dormant racist attitudes toward the Japanese. The second problem is the scapegoat effect. In fearing for their lives and the well-being of their country, white Americans search for something or someone to blame. It is easy for them to turn against their Japanese American peers. Japanese Americans are easy to identify, and their minority status in America makes them an easy target for scapegoating.

The media fuels the xenophobic attitudes of Joe’s classmates and neighbors. Newspapers, meant to be unbiased pillars of a functioning democracy, draw attention to ludicrous and exaggerated stories of Japanese spies on the West coast.