What are the motifs in Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene?

Racial and cultural prejudice is are recurring ideas. Jenkinsville is the stereotypical small Southern town. It is fully segregated, with blacks and whites living in well-defined, separate areas of town. Black people are expected to stay in their “place” and defer to whites in every way and at all times. Otherwise they are “uppity,” and their jobs (and it is implied, safety) could also be at risk. People who are “different” had better fit in, or else. Mr. Lee, a Chinese merchant who some townspeople referred to as “The Chink,” was harassed, threatened and run out of town after Pearl Harbor, even though the perpetrators of that attack (and, hence, the country’s enemy) were Japanese. This shows up people’s ignorance, which is a huge factor in bigotry.