• Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

Snow Falling on Cedars is often characterised as "a novel of place." What are the significant places in the text? What occurs in each?

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Snow Falling on Cedars is often characterised as "a novel of place." What are the significant places in the text? What occurs in each? Compare and contrast the mood and tension found in the various settings and the role each provides in both character and plot development. "Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson concerns a Japanese man named Kabuo Miyamoto who is accused of killing a fisherman named Carl Heine. There are four main areas throughout the analepsis, Amity harbour, the cedar forest, the strawberry fields and the sea. It is in these four areas that the majority of the analepsis takes place. Amity Harbour, an "eccentric, rainy, wind-beaten sea village" is "the island's only town" and is also where the courthouse is situated. It is a small and primitive town. It is the harbour to many fishing boats and in particular Carl Heine's boat the "Susan Marie" and Kabuo's boat the "Islander". It is home to the sheriff Art Moran who, along with Alvin Hooks finds the dead body of Carl Heine. ...read more.

Middle

Other people do". Ishmael and Hatsue, both have typical adolescent feelings towards each other and perhaps it is these feelings that brought them together. Throughout her relationship with Ishmael, Hatsue knows in her heart that what she is doing is wrong. Guterson adds to the tension by having Ishmael ask Hatsue to marry him. This puts a great deal of pressure on Hatsue because she wants to be loyal to Ishmael, while at the same time also wants to stay loyal to her family. When they have sexual intercourse, Hatsue pushes Ishmael away and says, "It wasn't right." She knows that it is pointless to try and have a relationship with a "hakujin". In the end her guilt leads her to break up with Ishmael although he himself does not want to do so. This clearly has a big effect on Ishmael, who afterwards joins the army to help fight against the Japanese. Guterson shows the combined effect of Hatsue breaking up with Ishmael and Ishmael fighting against the Japanese, when he is forced to have his wounded arm amputated. ...read more.

Conclusion

This is a very significant part of the novel and Ishmael's feelings for Hatsue last throughout the novel, and only diminish at one point during the war when he is fighting the Japanese. His arm has to be amputated and he says "that fucking goddam Jap bitch". However he ultimately overcomes this racism by choosing to give Hatsue the shipping records that can prove Kabuo's innocence. He may do this partly because he knows that having Kabuo back will make Hatsue happy, and his feelings for her allow him to do this. Ishmael's struggle to come to terms with losing Hatsue and the loss of his arm at the hands Japanese machine-gun fire portrays the fight against racial prejudice that run throughout the community. Ishmael cannot help but feel hatred toward those that caused him to lose his arm. Coupled with Hatsue's betrayal, Ishmael at times finds it difficult not to blame the Japanese for his unhappiness and loneliness. All of this helps add to the tension and atmosphere of the novel. Edward Notcutt ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE David Guterson section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related GCSE David Guterson essays

  1. 'The death of a fisherman in an Island community can test present passions and ...

    Hatsue realises that she will 'never feel at home...among the hakujin.'13 For Ishmael and Hatsue, the cedar tree is a refuge from the forces of prejudice and conflict that threaten to keep them apart. The tree's seclusion, however, prevents the pair from acknowledging and accepting that their relationship will not survive the pressures of the outside world.

  2. How does Guterson Present the War and its Effects on the People and the ...

    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.

  1. Choose characters and examine how they have been presented in the novel thus far ...

    He insists that his job as a reporter, is all about uncovering the truth. Not until the end does Guterson make the reader realize that what Ishmael understands what his father meant by arguing that, "journalism is making choices." Having been presented a rather sympathetic view of Ishmael the onlooker

  2. On its simplest level, "Snow Falling on Cedars" is a murder mystery with all ...

    Due to these racial conflicts and prejudices Kazuo was hesitant to reveal his side of the story, as he knew the prosecutor would use this information against him, and would distort the facts more especially as he was a Japanese and was considered an outcast.

  1. In David Guterson's novel, "Snow Falling on Cedars" the author seeks to raise the ...

    The author gives the reader insight into this scene's main character, the accused man's mother-in-law Fujiko Hisao, her thoughts and her mentality. This insight helps to emphasise the moral destruction and mental torture facing the women aboard the train. Guterson outlines the hellish conditions the women were confronted with by

  2. How does Guterson present distrust of the Japanese in the novel Snow falling on ...

    The injustice of Kabuo's trial is echoed in the mass relocation of the Japanese to war camps such as 'Manzanar'. This evacuation was prompted by American fear and distrust towards the Japanese. All of the Japanese were seen as a potential threat; therefore all were forced to leave San Piedro.

  1. How Does Guterson Present Ishmael.

    "Weather of this sort overwhelmed absolutley everything, so that even when a man stood trial for his life it was no doubt the destruction of docks and bulkheads, the trees fallen on homes, the burst pipes, the strandard cars, that would most interest San Piedro's citizens."

  2. How does nature shape this novel?

    Another way, in which nature shapes the novel, is how the extreme weather conditions affect the novel's course of events. For example, the fog was partly responsible for the death of Carl Heine, as he lost his way; a rainstorm forced Ishmael and Hatsue into the cedar tree, and the snowstorms interrupt the Islanders usual routines.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work