How does David Guterson convey the fragility of the community of San Piedro in his opening chapters?

How does David Guterson convey the fragility of the community of San Piedro in his opening chapters? Tom Platts The concept of a lone island called San Piedro, deeply secreted by the harsh weather of a 'wind driven snowfall' provides an image of solitude. The island, with a town called Amity Harbor, distant from all outside communication, coveys a secluded, close-knit relationship within the community. They can't be touched. Any strangers are seen as suspicious and they feel somewhat invaded by outsiders because they are not used to them and their individual ways. The following shows three instances which demonstrate this: Firstly, 'At school they were strangers...because she was Japanese and he wasn't' proves their racial separation from one another in their community. Secondly, Ishmael, a news reporter who left San Piedro because he was unhappy, returned and was socially rejected by Hatsue, wife of Kabuo after their short-lived romance many years ago, and thirdly later found himself turning away from the 'fraternity of fishermen' as he knew he couldn't fit in. The problem was that 'he wanted to like everyone. He just couldn't find a way to do it.' This can show his social inexperience and inability to be liked, but more predominantly, it displays the community's unhealthy spirit to engage in nothing, except their day-to-day business and their way of acting in an

  • Word count: 563
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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In what ways does the writer develop tension and mystery in the opening chapters of Snow Falling On Cedars?

In what ways does the writer develop tension and mystery in the opening chapters of Snow Falling On Cedars? The author creates tension and mystery in many different ways during the opening chapters. The first line of the novel creates mystery straight away: 'The accused man, Kabuo Miyamoto', the reader is not given any indication of the charge against him or what he has been accused of and so immediately questions arise in the readers mind. It is not until the next paragraph we find what he is on trial for. Guterson cleverly withholds certain facts such as this throughout the novel to keep us interested, for example we become aware in Chapter 5 that Carl Heine's cause of death was by drowning, however, we are also told that he had a wound on the head but not informed how or why. Kabuo Miyamoto is described as 'sat proudly upright with rigid grace', 'Kabuo's features were smooth and angular'. This character description is of great consequence because of the author's method of manipulating language, which poses questions to us like, why does Kabuo seem to be so proud and unmoved by the trial? Has he got something to hide? Subtle references are also used to create mystery, gill-netters are said to pass their nights in silence, which is also a metaphor for what a murderer would do. Also in the opening chapter we come by the first sign of Guterson's use of pathetic fallacy

  • Word count: 788
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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What impression do we get of the community from the descriptions Guterson provides in the opening chapters. Louise Burrow

What impression do we get of the community from the descriptions Guterson provides in the opening chapters. Louise Burrow We can see from the first page of Snow Falling on Cedars that Guterson is a very detailed author who tends to look into objects and people in depth. This style of writing is particularly useful when trying to determine what kind of people are living in the San Piedro, and the kind of lives they are living and also their reactions towards other people. Throughout this essay I am going to look in detail at the descriptions of Guterson and how his descriptions shape the characters and the atmosphere of the isolated island. Guterson starts his novel with a very detailed analysis of the 'accused man' Kabuo Miyamoto and the court room which he is placed in at the beginning of the novel. This automatically gives the reader no chance of opinion as this character is, from the start, refused an identity by Guterson. This also gives us an idea of the opinions and views of the people who will be sitting in the public gallery. Kabuo is described by Guterson has a very withdrawn and subdued character, who is seen as having something to hide because of the way he is placed into the novel and courtroom; "Some in the gallery would later say that his stillness suggested a disdain for the proceedings; others felt certain it veiled a fear of the verdict that was to

  • Word count: 1487
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Compare and contrast ways in which David Guterson and Grahame Greene present painful conflict in love relationships that cross boundaries within Snow falling on Cedars and The End of the Affair

"Here's much to-do with hate, but more with love" (Romeo). Compare and contrast ways in which David Guterson and Grahame Greene present painful conflict in love relationships that cross boundaries within "Snow falling on Cedars" and "The End of the Affair" Caroline Finnerty Guterson and Greene profoundly scrutinize how love and hate entangle within their characters of Ishmael and Bendrix. The painful aftermath ensuing the death of a passionate love affair leads to an apt account of internally conflicting emotions and the blurry line separating them - as Bendrix comments: "hatred seems to operate the same glands as love: it even produces the same actions"1 A pivotal issue for both Guterson and Greene is the way in which conflict of emotions and relationships affect men and women differently. Both authors use the male characters to depict a selfish love centred on desire and romantic ideals. Ishmael is portrayed as naive and childlike in his blind dreams: "Love is the strongest thing in the world you know. Nothing can touch it. Nothing comes close. If we love each other we're safe from it all."2 He chooses to ignore the problems arising both from the war and Pearl Harbour and the culture of their people. The Japanese and Americans were enemies in the war, who would have objected to the romance. Dissimilarly, Bendrix is perceptive of the cruelty of the world. He

  • Word count: 3106
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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How does the author create suspense in chapter two of the "Snow Falling on Cedars", in which Carl Heine's body is discovered?

How does the author create suspense in chapter two of the novel, in which Carl Heine's body is discovered? In this essay I am going to explain how the author, David Guterson creates suspense in chapter two. The author helps create suspense by using the typical technical structure of story writing and emphasises their use. David Guterson throughout the whole of the book uses a lot of descriptive imagery, especially in this chapter, which makes a significant additive in the story line. The main protagonists in this chapter are Art Moran, the town's sheriff and Abel Martinson a young officer. The beginning of chapter two starts without informing the reader about the death of Carl Heine, so the reader doesn't know Carl is dead, this is not revealed until the end of the chapter. The setting and pace of this chapter I think are the two most important elements that help create the suspense. This is because they create the atmosphere. The setting of most of chapter two is set on Carl Heine's deserted boat, deserted as in the middle of the harbour and lonely in the thick fog, 'A fog as palpable as cotton' Is the description used by the author to describe the weather. The suspense is built up thicker and leaves the reader wondering why the boat is alone and not moving. Just before Carl Heine's body is recovered the weather starts to change slightly and the fog starts to

  • Word count: 749
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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In "Snow Falling on Cedars," write about the way Guterson presents the character of Kabuo in the novel.

Write about the way Guterson presents the character of Kabuo in the novel. Kabuo Miyamoto is presented to have grown up in Amity Harbour and to have lived together with his family on the strawberry farm of Carl and Etta Heine, where he worked as a share cropper. He grew up in the Japanese way of life and learned Japanese traditions. Kabuo and Carl Heine Jr. grew up together. As children they had been friends and played together. But now Kabuo is accused of being the murderer of Carl Heine Jr. During his time in the internment camp in "Manzanar" he got to know Hatsue and they got married. He marries Hatsue because she is a beautiful girl that he had always admired, and while in the camps, she was the obvious choice for a wife. A Japanese-American accused of the premeditated, first-degree murder of Carl Heine. He was a childhood friend of Carl Heine. His family worked as sharecroppers on the Heine's strawberry farm until there internment at the Manzanar camp. Kabuo is presented to be determined to get back the land that was taken from them while they were interned. He served in the United States Army in World War II to prove his loyalty to the U.S. He carries the guilt of having killed three people during the war. He is married to Hatsue and has three children. Guterson displays Kabuo throughout the novel to still have his religious faith, although his faith does not comfort

  • Word count: 763
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Snow Falling on Cedars

"Good crime fiction should do more than set up a puzzle to be solved. It should explore and comment on the world it depicts." Evaluate the ways in which crime fiction explores and comments on the world it depicts. Whilst setting up a puzzle to be solved, good crime fiction also takes the opportunity to explore and comment on the world it is depicting by conforming to and subverting the conventions of crime fiction. This can be seen in David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars in which he utilizes and adapts the conventions of the courtroom drama, enabling him to not only present a murder mystery, but also to explore the prejudices on an American 1950s audience and comment on its manifestations in today's society. Similarly, Howard Hawkes' film The Big Sleep explores and comments on the values of his world of immediate post WWII American society, rather than just "[setting] up a puzzle". Anither example of good crime fiction is agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, utilizing the conventions of the cozy in order to fulfil the dual purpose of setting up a puzzle and exploring and commenting on the class structures and expectations of the world she is depicting - 1020s Britain. Through conforming to and subverting the police procedural sub genre, Anthony Zulitch in the Pledging Mr Johnson episode of Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) also presents good crime fiction by

  • Word count: 1954
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Snow Falling on Cedars.

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. "Snow fell that morning" on the first day of the trial, which is significant as the snow symbolises the duration of the trial. It is ambiguous in its representation as it is often described as "beautiful" and "rare" and "precious", allowing an insight to Ismaels' memory of his childhood with Hatsue but also gains the opposite interpretation of destruction through the "ferocious" weather

  • Word count: 601
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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