‘In a universe where decay is inevitable, suffering and death come unexpectedly, war and social divisions are human traditions, personal ethics are humankind’s saving grace.’ Discuss this thesis with particular emphasis on the decisions taken by and the behaviour and operation on the consciences of Kabuo, Hatsue and Ishmael.
The novel Snow Falling on Cedars, written by David Guterson, revolves around a racially charged court case involving an innocent Japanese man accused of the murder of a German fisherman. The author explores the human traditions of war and social division and the inevitability of decay, suffering and death, using the murder trial of Kabuo Miyamoto as a focal point. Guterson investigates the way in which personal ethics can transcend the conspiring effects of ‘fate, coincidence and accident’ through the behaviour and disposition of the three main characters of the novel, Ishmael, Hatsue and Kabuo.
Kabuo's trial is a continuation of the white community's conflict with its Japanese neighbours. Prejudice is prevalent on San Piedro Island where whites harbour resentment and hostility towards the Japanese ‘aliens’, but hypocritically profit from the Japanese-American residents’ discipline and hard work. Generated by the events of World War II, the ‘Japs’ are treated with suspicion and scorn. The jurors misinterpret Kabuo’s cold and impassive face as a sign of betrayal and defiance, while to Kabuo it expresses guilt for World War II ‘murders’. Ishmael learns to hate Hatsue after his war experience, because ‘she had the face of America’s enemy and would always have such a face’. However, the Japanese are not merely victims and out of a sense of superiority, they choose to maintain their detachment from American society. Hatsue’s influential mentor Mrs Shigemura has contempt for American culture and warns Hatsue to stay away from the ‘hakujin’. Kabuo distrusts his white neighbours because he was robbed of his family’s land and is a ‘victim of racial prejudice…in the country he fought to defend’. Hatsue understands the deeply ingrained racial and cultural divide between herself and Ishmael. In a metaphorical conversation at the beach, she declares ‘oceans don’t mix…they’re different from each other’. Prejudices in the novel are not restricted to racial discrimination, and other divisions within the community are depicted. The San Piedro fishermen mistrust Ishmael because he is an intellectual and ‘makes a living with words.’ Guterson suggests that circumstances that seem unalterable, such as prejudice or war, are the direct result of human behavior and that people can overcome them. This is illustrated when Kabuo offers to assist Carl in a dire situation despite having every reason to detest him.
