Snow Falling On Cedars Prejudice

Keyonna Smith
Ms.Robison
AP English IV
December 19, 2014
Love, Prejudice and Cedar Trees
The small town of San Piedro Island is blanketed in snow, cedar trees are viciously swaying in the December air. All the white covered streets are quiet and empty. But, inside San Piedro’s cramped and hot courtroom; Kabuo Miyamoto, a fisherman, is on trial for the drowning of Carl Heine. As Miyamoto’s trial develops, it soon becomes clear, through the deterioration of Miyamoto’s rigid grace, there is more at stake than a murder trial. In Snow Falling on Cedars, memories flood the courtroom: Ripe strawberry fields, thick cedar trees, a love affair between a white boy and a Japanese girl, who becomes Mrs. Miyamoto; the gain and the loss of 7 acres

of land consumes the characters and the town. David Guterson makes use of plot structure, setting and style to mold Snow Falling on Cedars to a historical analysis; with compelling symbols and several story elements that drive characters to question the nature of prejudiceness and the struggle between free will and coincidence. Guterson’s effortlessly intertwine undoubtable love, deep prejudice and San Piedro’s cedar trees into a suspenseful murder mystery masterpiece.
David Guterson was born on May 4, 1956, in Seattle, Washington. Guterson credits the influence of many of his works to his father, Murray Guterson, a successful criminal defense lawyer. As a child, Guterson was intrigued with his father’s cases. He would sit in trails and observe the roles of a trail, but never wanted to be an attorney. In the beginning of college, he decided to become a writer. During his studies, he

developed his ideas on the influences of literature; he concluded that writers had an obligation to present readers with the moral questions on life and self reflection. While teaching he discovered his love for the book To Kill a Mockingbird. “No other book had much an impact [on me]. I read it 20 times in 10 years and it never got old, only richer, deeper and more interesting” (Guterson). He admitted the novel had a strong structural and thematic elements influenced Snow Falling on Cedars in 1994. Snow Falling on Cedars was a ten year project, making sure every character and word had a special purpose to forward the novel. The book went on to win the 1995 Pen/Faulkner award. The novel had such a strong impact, it was adopted into a 1999 film starring Ethan Hawke, where it won an Academy Award nomination. 20 years later, Guterson reflected on Snow Falling on Cedars. “The novels I’ve published in the wake of Snow Falling on Cedars’ have been inundated by its enduring presence”(Guterson).Though Guterson wrote many other novels and short stories after Snow Falling on Cedars, none have gained the critical acclaim of his 1994 success.
Snow Falling on Cedars begins with Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese-American fisherman who lives on San Piedro island, being accused of the murder of Carl Heine.

Carl, a fisherman, grew up with Kabuo and they were good friends. Carl’s family sold 7 acres to the Miyamoto's in the wake of Pearl Harbor. When the Miyamoto family was sent to the internment camps, Carl went to fight the Japanese in the Pacific, and Etta Heine (Carl’s mother) sold all that belonged to the Miyamoto's. While in the internment camps, Kabuo married Hatsue Imada, a Japanese girl who had a long childhood love affair with a white boy named Ishmael Chambers. After their marriage, Kabuo went off to war to prove his loyalty to America and, went to fight the Germans in Europe. When he returned to San Piedro, he found out Etta had sold the 7 acres of land. Kabuo was furious and want his family’s land

back.

When she was in the internment camps, she wrote a letter to Chambers ending their relationship. Chambers felt horrible about Hatsue’s rejection and was never able to overcome it. Soon after he received the letter, he joined the military to fight in WWII. During battle he lost his arm. When Ishmael lost his arm, he lost a part of himself. In contrast, Carl Heine returned home to believe his mother's treatment of the Miyamoto's was wrong and when Kabuo approached him about purchasing his 7 acres of land back, he was hesitant but he said he would think about it. On the evening of September 15, 1954, while Kabuo was night fishing, he found Carl’s boat without power. Kabuo helped him and Carl agreed to to sell the 7 acres back to Kabuo. When Kabuo left, a freighter passed Carl’s boat and he fell into the water and died; hitting a pole in the process. When the body was found, Kabuo was accused for the death of Heine even though he was innocent. Ishmael found evidence from the lighthouse about the freighter passing Carl’s boat; he told the judge and the case was dismissed.
To fully comprehend Snow Falling on Cedars, one must understand the genre and how the title and style helps illustrate the settings. Snow Falling on Cedars is a crime thriller novel; Guterson dangles the truth of the murder in front of the readers until the very end. The readers, in the mean time, are engulfed by the forbidden love story between Ishmael and Hatsue that is weaved through the different time periods of the novel. In the same fashion, Guterson uses the genres of crime thriller and romance to develop a deeper underlying genre of bildungsroman. He uses the bildungsroman scheme to display the characters spiritual transformation. Snow Falling on Cedars is a title that depicts geographical hints to the setting. The Pacific Northwest is home to the only Cedar trees in the country. San Piedro is a fictional small island off the coast of Washington state. Most of its residents are

fishermen or berry pickers. The trial takes place in 1954 but Guterson constant use of flashback takes readers into the 1930s to experience a childhood romance and the 1940s to experience wartime chaos. There are also the Japanese Cedar trees, that can hint to a conflict between the White community and Japanese through the novel. Guterson‘s style of writing is intertwined within the importance of setting. It offers vivid imagery and contributes to the amount of sensory illustration within the novel. Guterson is known for using the Pacific Northwest as a platform for his setting. His sophomore novel East of the Mountains “treated readers to a story of rebirth, set in the lush apple orchards of the pacific northwest”(Reisman). Even though Snow Falling on Cedars is heavily a murder mystery, its imagery of the setting lens itself to the reader making a strong connection with the community.
San Piedro was an island of five thousand damp souls....San Piedro had too brand of verdant beauty that inclined its residents toward the poetical. Enormous hills, soft green with cedars, rose and fell in every direction. The island homes were damp and moss covered and lay in solitary fields and vales of alfalfa, feed corn and strawberries. Haphazard cedar fences lined the careless roads, which slid beneath the shadows of the trees and past the bracken meadows. (5-6)
Guterson describes a beautiful San Piedro island, with rolling hills and cedar trees. San Piedro is physically and culturally isolated from the realities of the main United States. Making the reader conclude San Pierdo symbolizes the world.The intense diction and syntax within the sentence, such as abundance of sensory phrases and word choice are ways Guterson creates this distinct world. Word choice of ‘Enormous hills’ and ‘Soft green’ to describe the landscapes and nature gives the reader vivid images to form a true fictional world. Guterson’s

flow in the quote above has a lets take a drive down by the country vibe and its imagery is connected by that flow. But in other aspects in the book
Snow Falling on Cedars beauty comes from the character’s twisted world of love, prejudiceness in small town America. Ishmael Chambers is a 31 year-old war veteran, journalist and the protagonist of the novel, who serves as the novel’s spokesperson. Ishmael is Hebrew for "God will hear". In the the Old testament this is the name of a son of Abraham. and the name is borne by a man who assassinates Gedaliah, the governor of Judah. The author Herman Melville later used this name for the narrator in his novel Moby-Dick in 1851. Ishmael is someone who is suffering from Post-traumatic stress syndrome has never able to be the same person he was before the War, because of Hatsue’s rejection and because of his bitterness toward his past. He returns to San Piedro with a missing arm and a broken heart; he sulks around, observing the citizens of town to write stories for the San Piedro Review: a newspaper his father founded. Ishmael Chambers is a character most people can understand; he is a character who is haunted by his past. But, Ishmael also has a characteristic of looking at the true aspects of his community and is able to see past the misty fog that absorbs San Piedro. Ishmael is disappointed in the community he lives in, he sees the unfairness and prejudiceness of San Piedro but, he chooses to retreat into his antisocial shell. Ishmael internal conflicts are memories of the past, Hatsue’s rejection of him and the loss of his arm. When Ishmael dismisses the bitterness he accumulated over the years towards Hatsue and helps free her husband, he was able to resolve the bitterness he had toward Hatsue and respect her as a wife and mother. Also, he was able to respect himself and resolve his

demons to move forward in his life.; he was able emerge from his shell, put the past behind him and live the life that he deserved.
Hatsue is the wife of Kabuo Miyamoto.

She is torn between her traditional Japanese values and her right to free will, to love whoever makes her happy regardless of race. Her mother, Fujiko Imada, believes the white man is the root of all evil and life is full of misfortune and suffering. Her relationship with Kabuo embodies the traditional values of America at the time, that individuals must accept the limitations of their time. Young Ishmael represents her right to free will and the belief that individuals have a utmost right to be happy and can live in a community without restraints and demands imposed by society. Hatsue’s internal conflicts stems from the two different values, She loves Ishmael but is bounded by her parents. She hates her mother’s anti-white prejudiceness but has a feeling that her relationship with Ishmael is morally wrong. Hatsue is a typical women of the 1950s, having picked her duty to confide to the roles of the community. In 1950s interracial relationships were not acceptable in America during the time. Hatsue and Ishmael would hide in their special cedar trees and were accepted there in the comforts of the leaves, but out in San Piedro community they had to hide their relationship. Eventually, she learns she can’t love Ishmael and follow her mother’s wishes and she marries Kabuo. Hatsue relationship with Ishmael is a beacon of hope, exhibiting whites and Japanese can live in harmony without deep

prejudiceness.
Kabuo is a victim of fate in Snow Falling on Cedars, but, he feels his situation is karma from the killings of Germans in WWII, even though he was doing his duty. Although Kabuo loves his family and knows his innocence, he feels guilty. Kabuo internal conflict is, like Ishmael, he is haunted by the memories of the past. He is haunted by

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World War II, and the dispute about receiving his land back This is depicted when Gudmundsson, his attorney, told him he faces the death penalty. Most people would try to do everything they can to get off but, Kabuo doesn't believe he has a decision in his own future.
Everything was conjoined by the mystery and fate, and in his darken call he meditated on this and it became increasingly clear to him. Impermanence causes and effects, suffering, desire, the precious nature of life. Every sentient being straining and pushing at the shell of identity and distinctness. He had the time and the clarity about suffering to embark on upward path of liberation, which would take him many lives follow. He would have to gain much ground as possible and accept the mountain of his violent sins was too large to climb in a lifetime. He would still be climbing it in the next and the next, and his suffering inevitably would multiply.(169)
Kabuo begins to unravel the one of the moral questions of fate. More than another character in the book, Kabuo accepts life is dictated by fate. But, he believes that people will have to suffer for the wrong they do in the world. Essentially, Karma will come around and it might take multiple lifetime to be forgiven. Now a prisoner, Kabuo feels he must atone these sins by accepting the punishments he had committed. Even though he is innocent from the murder of Carl Heine, he has the blood on his hands from the german soldiers he murdered
Carl Heine jr. was found dead, entangled in the nets of his fishing boat with a blow to the skull. Carl Heine is the dead fisherman who is at the center of the novel’s suspense. Although he is dead throughout novel, he embodies the best and worst of realities of the white community in San Piedro. He is the ideal citizen of San Piedro, a stoic, hardworking and strong man. “...here was an extraordinary specimen of manhood, six foot three and two
hundred and thirty-five pounds, bearded, blond and built in the solid manner of a piece of statuary”(50). Even when he is dead, he is still admired as a perfect man; being called a specimen and being described as god-like. Who unlike Kabuo and Ishmael, is able to put his experience of war behind him and be dedicated father, husband and fisherman. On the other hand, he is passive, a hoarder of his true feelings and emotionally isolated. His wife, Susan Marie, feels she doesn't know him very well. But even with the emotional detachment, Carl is the only major character to have the courage to put the past differences behind him. This is shown when Carl agrees to sell Kabuo family land back. Ironically after Carl transcended to a higher mortality, compared to the other characters, he dies by the most uncontrollable force of all: chance.
Snow Falling on Cedars would not be as a compelling story without Guterson’s use of flashback to intensify the tensions between the characters and the community. The gradual tensions between the white and Japanese community strengthen the wedge between the trial and the past. Guterson is able to parallel the racism of the trial with the racism of the Japanese experience before Pearl Harbor. The narrative illustrates the influence the influence of the past on the present. Etta Heine testimony against Kabuo depicts how Guterson uses flashbacks to intensify conflicts. The reader knew Kabuo was furious with Mrs. Heine because she sold his family land but, the reader didn't know Mrs.Heine deep resentment toward the Kabuo’s family when they were sent to internment camps. In the present, the reader perception of Mrs.Heine changed now seeing her as another racist. Flashbacks gives the opportunity to fill in the gaps in the novel and allows an illustration of the psyche of citizens and their motives. With Etta’s testimony, the reader learns the prejudiceness whites had toward the Japanese before WWII.
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Snow Falling on Cedars uses omniscient 3rd person. The third person in a narrative provides the greatest flexibility in literature. The point of view is constantly changing from one character to another. Ishmael, Hatsue, Kabuo and Carl are the main characters that the novel shifts from different perspective. With the help elaborate series of flashbacks throughout the novel, helps develop reader understand the psyche of all the characters, their dilemma in the novel and their personal motives.
With compelling symbols that drives characters to question the nature of prejudiceness and the struggle between free will and coincidence. “The tree produced a cedar perfume that permeated their skin and clothes”(171). Cedar tree is a symbol that starts as a positive sanctuary but progress to become a personal prison for Hatsue and Ishmael. The cedar tree is a sanctuary from the forces of society and the forces of prejudice that keeps them apart. The cedar tree is the only places where they can express their love. Hatsue and Ishmael were not only allowed to express their love but also to be themselves. The cedar tree shelter them from the storm of war and prejudice. Just like San Piedro Island being isolated from the rest of the United States, the tree isolated in the woods, prevented Hatsue and Ishmael to have a realistic relationship with each other. The cedar tree became a prison of deception, for Hatsue, the cedar tree made her believe in a relationship that was never going to survive the racial pressures of San Piedro and the rest of the world. For Ishmael, it trapped him because it locked him in an unrealistic vision of their relationship, that Hatsue and Him could live happily ever after. Another symbol is Arthur Chambers chair which represents his father legacy of moral authority and dedication to move on in life. Ishmael always admired the chair but felt unfit to sit in the chair. In terms of the Bible, stems from Ishmael not being able to live up to Abraham legacy and reputation. In Snow Falling on Cedars when Ishmael finally
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matured to help Hatsue after years of bitterness, he felt worthy to sit in his father’s chair and gain strength from it. The motif of the storm and the testimony both recurring elements that bring qualities to richen the novel. The storms cut power in the town, shacks the courtroom and impacted the lived to the citizens. One storm is what drove young Ishmael and Hatsue up in the cedar tree for the first time. Carl Heine was in a storm with thick fog and intense waves when he died. The storm is an uncontrollable force and their severity can be unpredictable. Life is like the storms throughout this novel, some factors are ‘mystery and fate’. The testimony is what drives the plot from the beginning to the end. The testimony brings various characters to the witness stand to inform the readers on Carl’s death and illustrate the biases, prejudice and is the platform of figuring out the truth.
David Guterson makes use of plot structure, setting and style to mold Snow Falling on Cedars to a historical analysis; with compelling symbols and several story elements that drives characters to question the nature of prejudice and the struggle between free will and coincidence. Snow falling on Cedars draws out prejudice of both races from the very beginning of the novel. Whites resented the presents of Japanese but gained the money from their work on the strawberry fields. As the Japanese were deported from San Piedro to internment camps, their white neighbors used the experience as a justify their treatment of the Japanese. But, the Japanese also played into the tug-a-war game, Fujiko for an example, believe whites are the sin of all evil and Kabuo refused to cooperate the cops when they were asking him questions about the murder. Guterson brings up a point, prejudice is not just a one-sided issues; its a cycle that continues to rotate and creates new forms of prejudice.Guterson uses words like mystery, fate and coincidence to describe the unknown forces that runs the every human being. Somethings in Snow Falling on Cedars simple
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acquires, Carl’s death from a freighter and Ishmael survival of WWII. The characters are constantly dealing uncontrollable forces like war or racism. But the characters also struggle with forces they do have power to control; the right to face and to forgive people. With controlling the the little forces we as humans do have control over can give has the power to truly define our fate.
Snow Falling on Cedars is “an impressive novel”( Reisman). She does on to give a plot summary of the novel. Then she closes her criticism telling the reader Snow Falling on Cedars is “a novel which is often lyrical, always convincing and above all solidly based on the author’s knowledge of human nature, both at its worst and happily, at its best” (Reisman). Rosemary Reisman ends her perspective thinking highly of this novel and believes it's an impressive novel that captivate an audience in large numbers, which it did. But, the aspects of the novel such as racism and fate does not come from the knowledge of an author. Racism and fate has been topics of discussion of centuries, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles is a prime example of the idea of fate being discussed. Guterson took what another author worked on and expanded it and took it to a new level. By using the race relations between the white and the Japanese, he was able to make it his own. Heike Pauls criticism shows it through a psychoanalytic perspective. First he starts with giving information about the novels success then he moves into plot summary. Then he makes a point throughout the novel, readers must make a choice to sympathize with the protagonist Ishmael Chambers “We can choose to identify or sympathize with Ishmael Chamber’s psychological suffering and/or with the suffering of the Japanese characters being dispossessed” (Pauls). The later on he says “Guterson’s novel is...1) re-staging a historical sin 2)working though its ramifications 3) correcting its pitfalls and injustices and, ultimately, vindicating victims and
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perpetrators.”(Pauls). Pauls bring up a point of what should readers do when reading a novel like this with multiple sides to be on. What major character does a reader side with? This novel is a game changer because people sympathizes with the suppressor, the Japanese. The reader also forms this special bond with the protagonist.
Snow Falling on Cedars at the core is a cedar tree; a reader’s sanctuary to imagine the world of San Pierdo, to be protected from a murder mystery by getting emotionally invested in a beautiful love story. Its a novel a reader can escape their life issues and be engulfed in a twisting story that keeps the reader wanting more. But the novels reveals the deeper and darker meaning of racism, a never ending cycle of hatred. Also having its readers question their fate; are life events like death, coincidences or are they predetermined. Either way Snow Falling on Cedars poetically evokes the beauty of the land, with the harshness of our legal system and the absolute truth.

Work Cited
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Deignan, Thomas. “A Farewell.” World & /14.9(1999): 256. Mas Ultra- School Edition. Web.5.Dec2014 EBSCO
Flamm, Matthew. “A Publisher’s Incredible ‘Snow job.”Entertainment Weekly 302 (1995):92 Mas Ultra- School Edition.Web.5.2014 EBSCO
Sykes, Lisa “Book”. Geographical (Campion Interactive Publishing) 68.2 (1996):48. Academic Search Elite. Web.5.Dec.2014 EBSCO