What is the significance of the island setting and the weather in Snow falling on Cedars"? How does Guterson use the environment in which the novel is set to deepen our understanding of events?
Jayde Brindley
204h
Jerry
English Lit
November 2003
What is the significance of the island setting and the weather in Snow falling on Cedars"? How does Guterson use the environment in which the novel is set to deepen our understanding of events?
"Snow falling on cedars" is placed in the proximity of an insulated, isolated island off the coast of America. It is this seclusion that enhances the communal intimacy and inevitably the polarisation after the events of the war, especially the destruction of Pearl Harbour. The weather acts as a foundation, representing the change, alienation and blindness throughout the novel.
The island, San Piedro, is self-sufficient with all of the islanders maintaining their lives by working for themselves. It shows the combination of the "closeness" of the community in contrast with the animosity and isolation that remains through judgment between races. It is the isolation of the island that is a metaphor for the isolation of the communities.
204h
Jerry
English Lit
November 2003
What is the significance of the island setting and the weather in Snow falling on Cedars"? How does Guterson use the environment in which the novel is set to deepen our understanding of events?
"Snow falling on cedars" is placed in the proximity of an insulated, isolated island off the coast of America. It is this seclusion that enhances the communal intimacy and inevitably the polarisation after the events of the war, especially the destruction of Pearl Harbour. The weather acts as a foundation, representing the change, alienation and blindness throughout the novel.
The island, San Piedro, is self-sufficient with all of the islanders maintaining their lives by working for themselves. It shows the combination of the "closeness" of the community in contrast with the animosity and isolation that remains through judgment between races. It is the isolation of the island that is a metaphor for the isolation of the communities.