FREE ESSAY ON SNOW FALLIING ON CEDARS

SNOW FALLIING 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 characters. It is set in the 1050's 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 internment 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
experience in the war, and it changed his perspective of the world. On the other hand,
Carl Heine's mother, Etta, is extremely prejudiced against the Japanese, She feels that
all of the dirty Japs as she calls them, are lazy and untrustworthy. She judges all
Japanese people by their race. The author also represents the American friends of the
Japanese. Etta's husband was friends with Kabuo's 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 evidence 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 emotionally distant. When he was in the courtroom, he showed no
emotion, even though he could have hanged. He thought that his death 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. The author showed that even the nicest
people can have prejudices against other people. By having his characters be flawed, it
made them and the book more fun.
Snow Falling on Cedars proved to be an excellent book. It presented many different
viewpoints of WWII and its effect on Japanese-Americans. The book was unbiased and
allowed you to form your own opinions, which made it more educational. Also, the
characters in the book were flawed. They seemed more real and helped the story come
alive. This was a great book, and it is an important piece of literature.