Snow Falling on Cedars

Snow Falling on Cedars is the first novel written by American writer David Guterson. Guterson, who at the time was a teacher, wrote the book in the early morning hours. He authored the book in a ten year period from the 1960s to the 1980s. After the novel was a success, however, he quit his job and wrote full-time. The novel was published on September 26, 1995, becoming an immediate bestseller and winning that year's PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Influenced by Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Snow Falling on Cedars also deals with racism. Snow Falling on Cedars was adapted into a film (Snow Falling on Cedars) in 1999, which won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

Plot

Set in the fictional San Piedro Island off the Washington coast in the Pacific Northwest in 1954, the plot revolves around the murder case of Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese-American accused of killing Carl Heine, a respected fisherman in the close-knit community. The trial occurs in the midst of deep anti-Japanese sentiments following World War II. Covering the case is the editor of the town's one-man newspaper, Ishmael Chambers, a World War II veteran who lost an arm fighting the Japanese. Torn by a sense of hatred to the Japanese, Chambers struggles with his powerful emotions of love for Kabuo's wife, Hatsue, also a Japanese-American, as well as his deep conscience knowing that Kabuo is truly innocent.

Related Topics:
Fictional - Washington - Pacific Northwest - 1954 - Murder - Japanese-American - Fisherman - Anti-Japanese sentiments - World War II - Japanese

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Spearheading the prosecution efforts are the town's sheriff, Art Moran, and prosecutor, Alvin Hooks. Leading the defense is the old, experienced Nels Gudmundsson, who has been through a lot in life. An underlying theme throughout the trial is prejudice. Despite clear evidence proving Kabuo's innocence, several witnesses, including Etta Heine, Carl's mother, accuse Kabuo of murdering Carl for racial and personal reasons. Etta is the stereotypical anti-Japanese person; she represents the part of America that persecuted against the Japanese. This is not without a sense of irony, as Kabuo Miyamoto was prejudiced against because of his ancestory; the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor. As Etta Heine is in fact a German, she could readily be blamed for her peoples' crimes.

Related Topics:
Sheriff - Prosecutor - Theme - Prejudice - Witness - Pearl Harbor

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Also involved in the trial are Horace Whaley, the town coroner, and Ole Jurgensen, an elderly man who sells his strawberry field to Carl. The strawberry field is contested in the trial. The land was originally owned by Etta Heine's husband. Kabuo, as a child, and his family lived on the land and picked strawberries for Mr. Heine, Sr. Kabuo was a great friend of Carl; the two even gave each other fishing lines. Mr. Heine, Sr, respected the Japanese and sold the land to the Kabuo family. However, the day before the last payment was to be made, the Japanese were forced to move to internment camps. Thus, all but one of the payments had been made to the Heines. After some years in the internment camp, Kabuo returned and found that Mr. Heine, Sr., had passed away and that Etta Heine had sold the land to Ole Jurgensen. Ole Jurgensen, in turn, sold the land back to Carl Heine, moments before Kabuo arrives to try to buy the land back.

Related Topics:
Coroner - Strawberry

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All this is considered in the trial, which was started when Carl Heine's body was found in his fishing net. His head had suffered an immense head wound, of which Kabuo is accused of bashing with a fishing gaff. In addition, Carl Heine's boat had all its lights on and bits of mooring rope from Kabuo's boat.

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Near the end, the biased jury is close to convicting Kabuo, who had lied to the jury pertaining to whether he boarded Carl Heine's boat. However, Ishmael finds documents showing that a huge freighter had passed through the area, subsequently causing a huge wake. Ishmael now possesses this document proving Kabuo's innocence, but is torn between his love for Hatsue and his hatred of Kabuo for winning her, and his duty and conscience to show the documents to the judge. In the end, Ishmael gives the documents to Hatsue. Kabuo is then acquitted and released, and the town realizes that Kabuo is innocent.

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