Snow Falling On Cedars Analysis

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson highlights cultures and lifestyles in multiple ways. One culture that is heavily displayed in this novel is that of the Japanese culture. The Japanese culture is prominent on this island due to the heavy influx of immigrants from Japan at the time. Many families on the island are from this area, and most of them belong to the lower class. Families like the Miyamoto 's make their living off of farm work and odd jobs. Their small jobs include taking care of farmland and picking strawberries and other harvest. Hatsue Miyamoto comes from a family with strong values and tradition. She is subject to relocation to Japanese internment camps as a young adult, where she marries her current husband, Kabuo. The novel takes the reader from Hatsue’s early childhood, up to her current married life. Throughout the novel she

Fujiko is given a letter by her daughter Sumiko that is addressed to Hatsue. She reads the contents of the later to discover that is is written by Ishmael Chambers, the hakujin boy from San Piedro island. She confronts Hatsue with the letter, and Hatsue is honest with her mother about the matter. Fujiko tells Hatsue that she does “not know about love.” (Guterson 230) This exchange with her mother is when Hatsue admits that she is done with Ishmael after all of the years of successfully deceiving the world. Her mother tells Hatsue her whole life about how to be an honest Japanese woman and to honor her family and the man she marries. When Fujiko discovers of her daughters teenage affair, she is disappointed to say the least in her daughter. She instructs her to write a letter in Japanese about the things she previously did, as well as to “Put this hakujin boy boy away now.” (Guterson 231) Her and her mother’s exchange shows how Hatsue is growing into a young woman who acknowledges her past and is working to correct her