Snow Falling on cedars - Structure
...int of view throughout the trial and makes sure that Kabuo always has the last say, that is his testimony stays with the reader. Another major structural technique used is the frequent and repetitive jumps through time to and from the courtroom to the past experiences of the witnesses. By balancing these two different physical and metaphorical trials, there is an emphasis on the influence of the past and the present. Guterson is able to parallel the legal system’s case in the courthouse with the ongoing fight between the racial groups of San Piedro Island. The racial argument between the Japanese-American citizens and their fellow white government and neighbours is highlights the ‘detrimental effects of racial prejudice’. In this context the reader is able to compare the worlds of both the superior and inferior races and is then able to sympathise with the Japanese. For example during the testimony of Etta Heine we learn of how Kabuo is angry at Etta for selling his land to a white family. During her testimony we are given a descriptive flashback which builds on Etta Heine’s prolonged hate towards the Japanese and describes to the reader how she used the interment camp as a pretext for cheating the Miyamoto’s out of their land. These strategically placed flashbacks fill in the gaps in the story and illustrate the prejudices that bear on the trial. This also adds to the theme by showing how extreme one person’s hate for a race can impact on the rest of society. This also shows how justice is a principle that does not always reflect what is ‘just’ but is merely a representation of a society’s values and attitudes, whatever those may be. The cyclic structure is also metaphorical of the cyclic nature of prejudice. Throughout the novel Guterson continuously comes back to the point that San Piedro Island is clearly divided into races. Whites fear and resent the Japanese immigrants, whilst the Japanese must work long and hard just to meet the living standards they require. This nature implies that in society prejudice runs in a cycle, with each biased action and attitude reinforcing and generating new prejudice. For example Fujiko, partly out of a sense of superiority, refuses to cooperate with his white neighbours in the investigation of Carl’s death. In doing so, Fujiko becomes the centre of resentment and bias from the white society and so the American’s previously held beliefs that the Japanese are untrustworthy and envious are consolidated. Due to the discontinuous structure of the book, beginning and ending at the courthouse and repeatedly jumping back and forth through issues, the reader is able to connect the cyclical structure of the issue of ‘racism in communities’. Snow Falling on Cedars is presented to its reader in a non-chronological order. David Guterson places events in the order which gains the greatest reaction in favour of his own values and attitudes. For example, the main description of the storm is given in the middle of the novel. This storm is displayed as a mirror to the initial storm which affects ...