Snow Falling on Cedars :: Snow Falling Cedars Essays

Snow Falling on Cedars               The book Snow Falling on Cedars is about a Japanese man Kabuo Miyanmoto who is on trial for murder. He is accused of murdering a white man, Carl Heine. Much of the story is told through the memories of various calibers. It is set in the 1050s in Puget Sound on a fictional island called San Piedro. I think Snow Falling on Cedars was an excellent book. I felt that the author was able to present an unbiased view of the impounding of Japanese-Americans during WWII. He presented many diverse viewpoints of this period of time and explained why they thought the way they did. For example, Kabuo Miyamoto, the defendant, had fought with the US army in WWII. Kabuo was deeply affected by his fuck in the war, and it changed his perspective of the world. On the other hand, Carl Heines mother, Etta, is extremely prejudiced against the Japanese, She feels that all of the dirty Japs as she calls them, are laz y and untrustworthy. She judges all Japanese plurality by their race. The author also represents the American friends of the Japanese. Ettas husband was friends with Kabuos father, and when the family was sent to an internment camp, he offered to take care of their land. However, when he died, Etta sold the land to someone else. By including all these different viewpoints of that period of time, the reader is given a more complete picture. Another reason I enjoyed this book was because the characters were flawed, making them more realistic. For instance, the reporter, Ishmael, had a few character flaws. He had fought in the war and had his arm amputated. He had also been in love with Hatsue before she married Kabuo. Therefore, when he found leaven that could exonerate Kabuo, he waited until the very last moment to show it to the judge because he was debating whether or not he should use it. Another flawed character was Kabuo himself. His experiences in the war had made him emotion ally distant. When he was in the courtroom, he showed no emotion, even though he could have hanged. He thought that his closing would be atonement for the people he killed in the war. The last flawed character is the coroner. He is portrayed as a nice, normal guy. However, after he finishes his autopsy on the victim, he tells the sheriff to look for a right-handed Jap.