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Snow Falling on Cedars

David Guterson operating against Kabuo. But it also becomes evident that the Japanese fisherman may have had a motive for murdering Carl. Then Ishmael Chambers, a bitter San Piedro journalist who was Hatsue’s childhood sweetheart, finds he has the power to save Kabuo. But Ishmael still loves Hatsue and hopes to win her back. Chapters 1–3: Ishmael Chambers, a local reporter, is at the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto who is charged with the death of Carl Heine, a fisherman. Ishmael knows the accused and his wife, Hatsue. He tries to talk to Hatsue but she turns him away. In court, County Sheriff Art Moran recalls going on Carl’s abandoned fishing boat, pulling in the fishing line About the author and finding Carl’s body. Nels Gudmundsson, Kabuo’s Born in 1956 on the west coast of the United States, lawyer, confirms with Art that Carl’s boat (which used D8 is the son of a criminal defence lawyer. batteries) had a D6 battery that had been pounded into Guterson studied at University under the holder. Kabuo’s boat (which used D6 batteries) was the writer Charles Johnson. He moved to Bainbridge missing its spare battery. Island, an island off the west coast of the United States, Chapters 4–5: We learn about Ishmael. He left San and taught English at a local high school. In interviews Piedro, attended college in , and eventually returned Guterson has readily admitted that the island described to San Piedro to take over the local newspaper his father in is the island he lives on (but had owned. As a young man, Ishmael had lost an arm with a fictional name). Guterson says that his evocative while fighting in the Second World War and had returned descriptions of the island come from his deep love of the to San Piedro with a lack of trust in the world. place. Meanwhile in court, the coroner, Horace Whaley, speaks Guterson has written a short story collection, The Country of Carl’s injuries. The wound to Carl’s head reminded him Ahead of Us, the Country Behind, as well as two novels, of injuries he’d seen in the war by Japanese soldiers who East of the Mountains and Our Lady of the Forest. Guterson were trained in the art of kendo (stick fighting). However, has also worked as a journalist and is a contributing editor the coroner confirms there was no proof that Carl had to Harper’s magazine. been attacked. First published in 1994, Snow Falling on Cedars reached Chapters 6–7: We learn about Hatsue. Her parents came the top of bestseller lists in both the United States and from Japan. Her father was a strawberry farmer. Hatsue England. had been sent to a camp in California where Japanese Summary Americans were held during the war and she had married Kabuo there. Kabuo wanted to demonstrate his loyalty to The novel is set in the year 1954 on San Piedro, a lonely the United States and so joined the army. (fictional) island off the northwest coast of the United States. Kabuo Miyamoto, a fisherman of Japanese origin, Hatsue also recalled Ishmael, her childhood boyfriend. is accused of murdering Carl Heine, another fisherman, Ever since they were children, they had kept their while the two men were out at sea. Throughout the story, friendship secret because of their different backgrounds. we follow Kabuo’s trial, as the prosecution seeks to prove Chapters 8–9: Carl Heine’s mother, Etta, spoke at the that Kabuo boarded Carl’s boat during the night and trial. She said Kabuo’s father had made an agreement with murdered him, dropping his body overboard. her husband in 1934. He had planned to make payment In a series of flashbacks we learn the story of Kabuo’s towards seven acres of land through deposits over the life and that of his wife, Hatsue. It becomes evident as next eight years. However, the Miyamoto family was sent the trial progresses that there is powerful racial prejudice to a camp in 1942 and missed the last two payments. Then Etta’s husband died and Etta sold the land to Ole

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Snow Falling on Cedars

Jurgensen, a neighbour. She returned the money from Carl’s widow, Susan Marie, also appears before the jury. the previous payments to the Miyamotos. When Kabuo She recalls Kabuo asking Carl about buying back the land returned from the war, he accused Etta of stealing his one week before her husband’s death. Carl had told Kabuo family’s land. Then Ole got ill and sold the land back to that he would consider his request. Carl Heine (Etta’s son). Chapters 18–19: While the trial is taking place, a storm Chapters 10–11: We learn about Kabuo. At camp, is raging. Ishmael goes to the coast guard station to check Hatsue and Kabuo realised they shared the same dream to on the weather reports for the newspaper. Hatsue’s parents’ have a strawberry farm on San Piedro. When Kabuo told car has slid off the road and Ishmael offers to drive them Hatsue he was joining the army, she asked him to marry home. Hatsue tells Ishmael that the trial is unfair and that her before leaving. the newspaper should report that. Kabuo had extensive kendo training. At sixteen, he was At the coast guard station, Ishmael checks the files back to able to defeat all the men on the island. Kabuo recognised the time of Carl’s death, Ishmael reads about a large ship the dark side in himself after he killed several men in battle. coming through the fog into the area where Carl had been Meanwhile, Ishmael was reminded of the relationship he fishing. Ishmael realises the wake from such a ship could and Hatsue had as teenagers. From an early age, Hatsue knock a man off a small fishing boat. Ishmael takes copies had told him she’d been instructed to marry a Japanese of the report with him. boy from a good family. Ishmael thinks about writing the type of article Hatsue Chapters 12–13: In 1941, with the bombing of Pearl wants, so that when the trial is over, Hatsue will listen to Harbor by the Japanese army, San Piedro prepared to him and know he took her side. He sets the reports from defend itself. Hatsue’s father and many other men of the coast guard aside. Japanese descent were arrested and sent to a prison. Chapters 20–22: In court, Hatsue says that on the Meanwhile, the rest of the Japanese community was taken morning that Carl’s body was discovered, Kabuo had to camps in California. The night before she left, Hatsue told her that he had gone on Carl’s boat to help him met Ishmael. Ishmael asked Hatsue to marry him but and had made an agreement with Carl to buy back the Hatsue realised that they could not be together. land. However, when they heard that Carl had died, they At camp, a love letter sent from Ishmael to Hatsue was decided to keep quiet about Kabuo’s meeting with Carl. read by Hatsue’s mother. Hatsue told her mother the Kabuo talks about coming to Carl’s rescue by boarding relationship was wrong and she would put an end to it. his boat with his spare battery. Carl had used Kabuo’s gaff Chapter 14: Ishmael recalls going to war and feeling to make the smaller battery fit and had cut himself. Then distant from everyone. Many from his troop were killed they had made the deal about the land. fighting the Japanese in the Philippines. Ishmael survived In his final words to the jury, the prosecutor speaks of but lost his arm. Kabuo as a cold-blooded murderer who had the motive Chapters 15–17: In court, the sheriff tells how he and to kill Carl. The defence lawyer says that the argument his deputy had searched Kabuo’s boat and found a large against Kabuo was based on the hatred of another’s race. wooden gaff (a type of stick) that had blood on it. Chapters 23–25: That night, Ishmael re-reads the Then Dr Sterling Whitman, a specialist in blood analysis, letter that Hatsue sent him years before to end their reports that the blood on the handle of the gaff matched relationship. He realises that Hatsue had admired a part Carl’s blood type, not Kabuo’s. However, no bone or hair of him that was now gone. He talks with Hatsue and her was found with the blood (as might be expected if the parents about the coast guard reports. stick had been used to strike Carl’s head). Ishmael and Hatsue take the information to the sheriff. Also at the trial, Sergeant Victor Maples says he They find further evidence on the boat to back up the remembered Kabuo for his expert stick fighting during theory that the wake of the other large ship hit Carl’s boat army training and felt he was willing to use violence and caused Carl to fall, hit his head and fall off the boat. against another. The charges against Kabuo are dropped.

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Snow Falling on Cedars Background and themes Discussion activities In 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, a naval base Before reading on the American island state of Hawaii. This unprovoked 1 Discuss: Read aloud the first paragraph from act of aggression shocked and enraged Americans and the Introduction to the students. Have students brought the United States into the Second World War. discuss the differences that people from various backgrounds might have. (For example: language, The Japanese attack had dire consequences for the religion …) Then have them discuss what kind of hundreds of thousands of Japanese who had immigrated misunderstandings are possible when people from to the United States. Even before Pearl Harbor, there was different backgrounds live together. 2 Guess: Have students look at the chapter titles on the a general hostility toward Japanese immigrants, almost Contents page. From these titles, have students write certainly because of large differences in culture and four or five sentences describing what the story could appearance. Following the , hostility be about. Then have them read pages v and vi of the turned to paranoia, and Japanese-Americans were accused Introduction. Were they right? of spying for Japan and were compelled to sell their land. Chapters 1–3 About 110,000 Japanese-Americans were placed in camps After reading for the remainder of the war. 3 Write: Have students read the description of San Piedro in Chapter 1. Then have students imagine Snow Falling on Cedars takes place in 1954, only nine years the place and write a description of it for a travel after the end of the Second World War. The war is still magazine. What could a visitor see and do there? fresh in everyone’s memory and wounds have not healed. Have students read each others’ descriptions and An underlying hostility towards Japanese-Americans discuss whether they would like to visit there. Would remains. It is against this background of prejudice that they want to live there? Why/why not? 4 Guess: Ishmael has a short meeting with Hatsue in the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto takes place. The prejudice is Chapter 1. Have students discuss how Ishmael feels rarely voiced but the reader senses its unspoken presence about Hatsue. Why do they think this? throughout the book. 5 Group work: Read what happens at the trial and discuss the following: The effect of the Second World War resonates strongly a) What is strange about Carl Heine’s boat when the in the three main protagonists, Kabuo, Ishmael and Carl. sheriff and his deputy first investigate it? The three men were all at school together before the war b) Why is Kabuo on trial? and were friendly to each other. Then they fought in the c) What is Nels Gudmundsson suggesting when he war and emerged from it as different, very damaged men, asks questions about the batteries? d) What do the sheriff and deputy notice about Carl with a basic goodness but lacking in trust after the terrible Heine’s head when they pull his body into the things they had seen and experienced. The author shows boat? Why might this be important? us clearly, and without sentimentality, how these three 6 Write: After reading these first three chapters, have good men have been deadened. students write down five different words that describe the book and their feelings about it. In pairs, have The author, David Guterson, believes that an important them explain why they chose those words. Have them function of literature is to pose moral questions for the share their thoughts with the class. reader to consider. In Snow Falling on Cedars, there are Chapters 4–5 two moral issues at stake. The larger issue involves the After reading whole community and the easy willingness to condemn 7 Pair work: Read the descriptions of Ishmael and his people because they are different. The second moral issue father from pages 11–13. How were the two men is a personal one involving Ishmael who is in love with similar? How were they different? Hatsue, Kabuo’s wife. Ishmael, who lost an arm during the 8 Discuss: Have students discuss what the coroner (Horace Whaley) discovers when he examines Carl’s war, is a bitter and unfulfilled man. Towards the end of body. Could his comments and observations have the story, he finds proof that Kabuo did not murder Carl. been partly responsible for Kabuo’s trial for murder? But because he still fantasises about winning back Hatsue, What does Nels Gudmundsson conclude from the he is tempted to keep silent, perhaps hoping that if Kabuo coroner’s observations? is found guilty of murder, then he, Ishmael, will have a chance with Hatsue.

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Snow Falling on Cedars

Chapters 6–7 Example: After reading Hatsue (as a teenager) 9 Pair work: In pairs, have students imagine that they are either Hatsue or Ishmael and they are fourteen I should not lie to my parents about Ishmael. years old. How do they feel about their friendship? What do they think about their future together? Have one student from each pair write a paragraph Hatsue (as an adult) from the perspective of Hatsue and the other from the perspective of Ishmael. Then have them share I wish Kabuo’s face showed more their writing with each other. expression. I think he looks very cold to 10 Role play: Eight days after the wedding of Hatsue the jurors. and Kabuo, Kabuo leaves to join the army. Imagine the conversation Hatsue might have with Kabuo Chapters 12–13 before he leaves. 11 Discuss: On page 24, read how Hatsue’s parents try After reading to help prepare Hatsue for her future life. Have 16 Group work: In Chapter 12, how does news of the students discuss the following questions: attack on Pearl Harbor affect Hatsue and her family? a) What do most parents want to teach their How does it affect Ishmael and his family? What children? is Hatsue’s first response? What is Ishmael’s first b) What do you think are the most important things response? Have students discuss their answers and for parents to teach their children? compare their findings in a chart. Chapters 8–9 Effect of Pearl Harbor Bombing After reading Hatsue Ishmael 12 Write: Have students imagine they are Kabuo. Have First response them write a letter to Ole Jurgensen explaining why Effect on family they should have a chance to buy the land that their family had planned to own. Effect on their 13 Discuss: Etta Heine and her husband came from relationship Germany and the Miyamotos came from Japan. 17 Pair work: Imagine Hatsue thinking about Ishmael Think of the setting of the story. What kind of and Kabuo. What might she like about Ishmael? difficulties might these immigrants have had adjusting What might she like about Kabuo? What might be to their new life on San Piedro? the problems with each of them? Have students discuss who she should choose. Who do you think Chapters 10–11 she will choose? After reading 18 Research: Find out more information about the 14 Write: At the beginning of Chapter 10, Kabuo talks camps the Japanese-Americans were sent to during the about how his face has changed since he returned Second World War. Why were these camps set up? from the war. Have students think of a childhood Discuss how people might have felt about the camps photograph of themselves or of someone they know at that time. (perhaps one of their parents or grandparents). What kind of person do they see whey they look Chapter 14 at that childhood photograph? What kind of person After reading do they see when they look at that person’s face 19 Discuss: Listen to a song that deals with war or today? Do they see the same kind of person or do peace, such as Blowing in the Wind by Bob Dylan. they see a different person? Can they explain why this Write some of the lines of the song on the board with might be? blanks and have students fill in the missing words. 15 Artwork: Choose one of the three characters Discuss the meaning of the song. (Kabue, Hatsue or Ishmael). Divide a piece of 20 Write: Think about Ishmael and his recovery in the paper in two and draw two pictures – one that hospital after losing his arm. Have students write represents that person as a teenager and the other about the tragedy of war. They can write from the that represents that person as an adult. Include perspective of Ishmael or from their own perspective. speech bubbles around the pictures that show what 21 Research: Ishmael was involved in the Battle of the person might be thinking and feeling at that time Tarawa in the Philippines during the Second World in his or her life. War. Find out more about that war. Consider the effect of such a battle on the soldiers and civilians who were involved.

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Snow Falling on Cedars

Chapters 15–17 After reading After reading 28 Check: Have students think about their answers to 22 Read carefully: Have students imagine that they are the questions in Activity 27. Were they correct? members of the jury. Have them make notes on: 29 Role play: Imagine the conversation between Kabuo a) the evidence showing that Kabuo killed Carl and Hatsue when Kabuo returns from fishing on Heine; the morning of the 16 September (before hearing of b) the evidence showing that Kabuo did not kill Carl’s death). What do they talk about? How do they Carl Heine; feel? At this point in the trial, what is their opinion about 30 Discuss: Have students imagine they are on the jury. Kabuo’s innocence or guilt? Have them discuss the following questions. 23 Discuss: Have students consider the characters a) How do they feel about how Hatsue and Kabuo who have testified in court. Which characters show presented themselves? prejudice against Japanese-Americans? How do they b) What do they think of the closing statements by show this? the prosecution and defence. Look closely at Nels’s statement. What are the most important points Chapters 18–19 he is trying to make? Do they think Nels gets his After reading point across? 24 Discuss: Have students think about the brief c) What would they decide based on these encounter that Ishmael has with Hatsue at the side arguments? What do they think the jury will of the road and in his car. Have them discuss the decide? following questions: a) What kind of messages does she give Ishmael Chapters 23–25 through what she says and does? Before reading b) How does Ishmael respond to her? Why does 31 Guess: Have students imagine they are Hatsue or Ishmael feel he has an ‘emotional advantage’? Kabuo. How would you feel about the trial? Would you c) What do students think Ishmael is planning to think that Kabuo would go free? do at the end of Chapter 19? Is this the right After reading thing to do? 32 Discuss: Have students discuss the different 25 Read carefully: In pairs, have students read things that help Ishmael decide to pass along the Chapter 18 and write down the sequence of events information from Philip Milholland’s notes. How based on what Ishmael has learned at the coast does Hatsue respond to Ishmael’s help with the case? guard station and at court. Write the key events 33 Read carefully: Have students discuss these questions that happen at these times on the early morning of in pairs. the 16 September: 1:20; 1:26; 1:42; 1:47. a) How do the ‘cut pieces of string’ help prove 26 Role play: Ishmael wants his mother to help him Kabuo’s innocence? deal with his problems but he doesn’t tell her about b) What role does the lamp play in Carl’s death? his history with Hatsue. Imagine that he does open 34 Write: Have students think how Ishmael might feel at up to his mother about Hatsue. What might they say the end of the book. How does he feel about Hatsue to each other? and Kabuo and about his own future. Write a journal Chapters 20–22 entry that Ishmael might write about his feelings. Before reading 35 Discuss: Kabuo has been in jail for about three 27 Guess: On the final day of the trial, Hatsue and months. Imagine his thoughts when he is told the Kabuo come forward and we hear the closing charges have been dropped. What will Kabuo do on arguments from the prosecution (Alvin Hooks) and his first afternoon of freedom? Then have students the defence (Nels Gudmundsson). Have students discuss what they would do if they were in that discuss these questions: situation. a) What will happen on this last day? Vocabulary activities b) How will Hatsue and Kabuo appear to the jury? For the Word List and vocabulary activities, go to (What do you think the jury will think of their www.penguinreaders.com. statements?) c) What will be the key arguments of the prosecution and defence? d) Will any new evidence be introduced?

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