Chapter 4, A Common Master Plan Summary and Analysis

The War Department is not prepared to provide for the Japanese-Americans they remove from the West Coast. Their common plan for barracks, communal mess halls, and latrines is fit for soldiers, but not for families. Additionally, the haste required to throw the camps together just ahead of the arriving masses of internees does allow for anything to be completed nor checked for usability. This leads to unbearable living conditions.The first months of life at Manzanar are pure chaos. The camps are planned in haste, thrown together as quickly as possible to house the many people who arrived long before anything is complete. Few of the vital buildings or necessary details have been completed. All ten of the camps have been planned identically. All are unlivable.

Woody does the best he can to...