‘Enormous hills, soft green with cedars.’
An interesting juxtaposition is formed between this natural beauty and the weathered, rusty appearance mentioned previously.
The novel is set in many different areas of the island including at the docks, in Horace Whaley’s laboratory and on Carl Heine’s boat, the Susan Marie. The action begins in the Courthouse and we find ourselves there at various points throughout the first seven chapters. This is the ideal setting for a novel to begin as it gives the author a reason to have all his main characters under one roof. Guterson is able to emphasise his main characters and any tension between them can also be made apparent at this crucial, early stage.
The main character of the novel initially appears to be Kabuo Miyamoto. The reader immediately finds themselves in the courtroom, anxiously awaiting the verdict of his trial. It is not until the fourth page that Ishmael Chambers is first mentioned. However, by the end of the opening chapter he has emerged as being more significant and the leading role is clearly his. The first thing we learn about Ishmael, besides his name is that he is ‘the local reporter.’ His occupation is an extremely salient factor and Guterson is keen to establish it straightaway. Guterson has used Ishmael’s profession as a tool to provide the necessary interactions between various characters. The fact that he is both professionally and personally concerned with the trial allows for a wide scope of action and conversation. It is due to his career that Ishmael is isolated from the remainder of the community.
‘He made his living with words and was thus suspect to them.’
The isolation of Ishmael is directly related to the abstraction of the Japanese-Americans. It is through the character of Ishmael that Guterson reinforces one of the main themes of the novel, of unnecessary and immoral isolation.
Ishmael’s experience of war has obviously affected and altered his personality and entire outlook on life. He views people as,
‘Animated cavities full of jelly, strings and liquids.’
This idea of how people are perceived is extremely significant within the novel and it presents itself under many different guises. Ishmael here views them as the constituent parts they are made up of, whilst many people on San Piedro can’t see past the colour of one’s skin, or which way their eyes slant! The war has also caused the metamorphosis of Ishmael into a cynical, bitter, misanthropic being. He is fully aware of the man he has become and it causes him a great deal of turmoil and consternation.
‘He wanted to like everyone. He just couldn’t find a way to do it.’
This feeling of Ishmael’s is shared by many of the islanders, as they are unable to find a way to like the Japanese-Americans that inhabit San Piedro. This idea of war and the devastating effects it has is central to the novel. Ishmael is not the only character who has been affected, as both Carl Heine and Horace Whaley have suffered a similar fate.
‘(There was) darkness of the war in Carl Heine, as there was in Horace himself.’
It is not only the personal consequences of war that are dealt with within the novel but the bigger picture is also considered. It was the bombing of Pearl Harbour that brought World War Two to America and this is the main reason why the Japanese-Americans are discriminated against in San Piedro. Guterson makes the point that the racist, derogatory manner in which the Japanese are treated is ultimately due to war. He makes it clear that not only does war deeply disturb individuals but it also has a profound effect that lasts for many generations. Guterson puts it so eloquently when he states,
‘There was a war on and that changed everything.’
Ishmael is affected physically by the war as well as emotionally, for it was in the war that he lost his left arm. This physical impediment is extremely important and Guterson has inflicted it upon his main character for many reasons. Firstly, and perhaps most obviously it makes the reader feel sympathy for Ishmael. It is important that the reader can identify with the main character in any novel, but particularly in ‘snow falling on cedars’ where there are so many characters and minor characters to contend with. Ishmael’s retardation serves another purpose in that it draws together two different themes of the novel. The ideas of pain being inflicted on the innocent and how visually apparent impairments affect other people’s perceptions. It is apparent to people that Ishmael only has one arm, just as it is apparent when someone is of Japanese descendant.
Ishmael’s relationship with Hatsue isn’t fully explored until chapter eight, but Guterson consciously provides the reader with snippets of information before then. In the first chapter Ishmael and Hatsue converse in the courthouse and there is obviously tension between them. It is clear that they share a history as Ishmael is so offended by her phlegmatic attitude. If he were merely speaking to her for information for a story he would be neither surprised nor insulted by her insolence.
‘She’d turned her eyes on his then…their darkness would beleaguer his memory of these days.’
No more information is presented about their involvement with one another until chapter seven. In this chapter Hatsue is reminiscing about the early days of her relationship with Kabuo and this prompts her to remember her first kiss with Ishmael.
‘He put his lips on hers for no more than a second.’
Guterson is piquing the curiosity of the reader, we are keen to know just how involved the couple were and what has happened to make them drift apart? Guterson uses this technique of foreshadowing throughout the novel and particularly concerning details of the case. He slips in significant pieces of evidence which appear meaningless to the reader:
‘A tin coffee cup lay tipped on its side.’
This technique combined with the thrilling plot and intertwined subplots make the first seven chapters a truly thrilling read and arouses the reader’s desire to read on.
There are more obvious themes emerging in the first seven chapters that the reader definitely can’t overlook. The most significant of these is that of racism and how the Japanese-Americans are treated as second-class citizens. There are many incidents within the first seven chapters that illustrate how segregated the Japanese are. For example at the courthouse they are seated at the back of the room because,
‘San Piedro required it of them without calling it a law.’
This not only reveals to us that segregation occurs, but also that the Japanese people have come to realise and even accept it. In the town the ‘Japs’ aren’t seen as people and are rarely referred to by their names. In the Island’s historical archives they have been assigned numbers and are known as ‘ Jap number 107’ or ‘Jap number 57.’ This depersonalisation of the Japanese can be further seen when one of the fishermen states that,
‘Suckers all look alike. Never could tell them guys apart.’
The whole issue of racism is very closely linked to injustice and Guterson interrelates the two themes very effectively. There are many people in the novel who encounter injustice from the Japanese race as a whole to Ishmael and Nels Gudmundsson. It would be easy for Guterson to reinforce this theme of injustice if all the Japanese were saintly and all the Americans malevolent. However, Guterson refrains from doing this and is careful to retain the realism of the novel. He includes some kind-hearted Americans and some heartless Japanese. Ishmael’s father, Arthur, for example was ‘morally meticulous’ and ‘exacting regarding the truth,’ whereas the Japanese people who arranged Hatsue’s mother’s wedding lied to her, telling them her future husband had,
‘Twelve acres of prime mountain land’
when actually,
‘He had nothing…but a few dollars and coins.’
This illustrates what a brilliant author Guterson is, for he is able to create a realistic community through which he can convey to the reader the nature of the issues we face in society and his feelings about them.
A great deal of information is established in the first seven chapters of ‘snow falling on cedars.’ The reader learns a lot about both the setting of the novel and the main characters. It is through these characters and the setting that Guterson is able to reinforce the central themes. It is extremely impressive the way in which he creates recurring themes that apply to many separate situations within the book. This allows more readers to relate to the issue and gives it added depth. Every minute detail that is included serves a purpose and can be in someway-related back to one of the novel’s many themes.
