The loss of Ishmael’s arm helps present the war and its affects on Ishmael through its representation of loss and the flashbacks that the arm allows Guterson to create. To Ishmael the war has lost him many things that cannot be seen physically; his girlfriend, his faith, compassion, moral values, racial tolerance, happiness, dignity and his father’s values and representation. These losses can be seen through the flashbacks in Ishmael’s memory to his childhood of innocence, which he wants to return to. The arm can also be used as a symbol of Ishmael’s reluctance to move on; he was offered the opportunity of removing the arm’s ability to feel but Ishmael, ‘whatever there was to feel in his arm, pain or anything else, he wanted to feel it,’. Although Ishmael does not ‘exactly know why’ it indicates that he doesn’t want to leave his past, and that the loss of his arm is providing him with something with which he can constantly remind himself of the past.
Guterson also uses the experiences felt in the war to show the effects of it on people, particularly on Ishmael. The war provides a moving experience to most of the characters, leaving none unaffected by the war. However, the experiences differ and have different resulting effects on the characters. Carl Jn became introverted, ‘he worked alone. He was courteous but not at all friendly.’ indicating that he lost the will to be sociable after seeing the affects of the war. Kabuo feels very guilty about killing the little boy in the woods, and has that guilt constantly with him; ‘and he returned a murderer’. It is a guilt that even at the end of the novel does not leave him. For Kabuo the trial that he faces in the novel is also as a result of the war, because the final payment was not made because of the interruption of war. Ishmael looses almost everything of value to him to war, but the one person who does appear to benefit from the war is Hatsue; she discovers herself as Japanese, marries Kabuo and has children, which are seen to be redeeming features in the novel.
The comparison between the relationship between Hatsue and Ishmael after the war provides a great contrast, and juxtaposing the two characters can highlight the effect of the war even more. Whereas the war has dissolved the romantic feeling towards Ishmael of Hatsue and being apart has reinforced this, for Ishmael it has increased his sense of loss, perhaps a loss of what he felt he was allowed to think about, as he may have felt he could not justly think of Hatsue anymore, although it is evident that he does. The war has helped provide Hatsue with a husband and children, both very redeeming features in this novel, as we can see from Hatsue’s words to Ishmael; ‘Find someone to marry. Have children, Ishmael. Live.’. In comparison, from Ishmaels point of view the war has robbed him of his chances of redeeming himself, finding a partner and having children, as the woman that he loved has made a new life for herself and moved on. Something which he failed to do.
How the characters view the settings of the book before and after the war also reflect how it has had an affect on them. On page 97 Ishmael views the inside of the cedar tree as ‘glossy and golden’ and ‘private’. However, when he returns to the cedar tree at the end of the novel the ‘silence of the world roared steadily in his ears’. This not only demonstrates the loss of meanings of things, but also the loss of emotions and feeling and how bleak the world and existence has perhaps become for him since the war.
At the beginning of the novel in the courtroom Kabuo is the only person who does not complain of the snow and actually appreciates it, in comparison with everyone else who complains. This could indicate his innocence, that even through war he has remained innocent. He is also aware of the snow being outside and the ‘heat of the courtroom’ which could reflect the inner feelings of his heart.
The war in Snow Falling on Cedars has been presented by Guterson through relationships, flashbacks, symbolism and how the characters view events. As an important theme in the novel the war is responsible for the plot and many of the events that have occurred in the past and how these are viewed by the community and characters, in their hearts.
