True Meaning of Snow David Guterson Is Research Paper

True Meaning of Snow

David Guterson is the young, American author of Snow Falling on Cedars which heavily consists of human nature and human emotions. Snow Falling on Cedars, narrates the trial of a Japanese man accused of murdering a white man in the post-World War II era. Throughout this literary work, Guterson uses elements of nature: land, trees, water and especially snow, as literal and metaphorical tools to develop and resolve conflicts.

David Guterson uses the same aspects and characteristics of nature in two different ways. First he describes in visual detail the literal or actual effects that elements of nature have on the characters in the novel. But more importantly Guterson uses nature to convey substantial and symbolic meaning in the lives of the characters in the story.

One of the elements of nature that Guterson uses as a tool to develop the conflicts in Snow Falling on Cedars are the strawberry fields on the island. These fields represent an important source of income for the community. Traditionally the Japanese laborers worked the fields and the white Americans owned the fields. The question of the ownership of seven acres of strawberry fields serves as the apparent motive for the murder of Carl Heine. To a local Japanese fisherman, Kabuo (accused of murdering Carl Heine), the ownership of this land promises a secure future and ultimately independence. "...she knew that Kabuo wanted a strawberry field.. nothing more than that" (Snow Falling 89). "His dream...was close to him now, his strawberry land, his happiness" (Snow Falling 456). The strawberry fields connected Kabuo to his past and symbolized a continuity of life. "My father planted the fathers of these (strawberry) plants" (Snow Falling 362).

Guterson also uses snow metaphorically to make the ownership of the strawberry fields disappear and seem unimportant in life (Snow covering the fields permitted the reader to veiw the ownership of the fields as a very materialistic and selfish thing). After the snow has fallen it acts as a purifier to all the wrong that has come of the fighting over the ownership of the fields. "Center Valley strawberry fields lay under nine inches of powder...the snow fall obliterated the boarders (of the fields)... all human claims to the landscape were... made null and void by the snow"(Snow Falling 320). The snow covered the fields; all of the fields seemed as one field. The nine inches of snow caused a visual unity of the strawberry fields. "..the world was one world"(Snow Falling 320).

The element of water is used as a paradox in the novel. Water is both the sustainer and taker of life. The damp and misty climate on San Piedro Island is the reason why the community grows and prosper off of the strawberry-based economy. Without the water, and the wet and nurturing environment it provided to the island there would be no foundation for life. The ocean is also one of the key sources to the community. It provides the community with a way to make a living.

Water, the source of life in Guterson's literary works, is also the end of life. In several of his works water is portrayed as the place where life ends. "...the wall of water rose up from behind...Carl Heine fell swift and hard against the Susan Marie's port gunnel. His head cracked open above the left ear and then he slid heavily beneath the waves"(Snow Falling 458). The tidal wave was the cause of Carl's death; the water, this element of nature was truly responsible for the death of the fisherman. In that sense Guterson uses water metaphorically to represent the circle of life; the source of life, the maintenance of life, and the end of life.

Guterson uses trees as a metaphorical device to portray and predict events in his novel. He also uses them as literal tools to develop his work, beautiful cedars and elms which are magnificent, full trees with flowing branches that are visually pleasing and familiar to his readers. The cedar tree in the novel acts as a symbol of protection and security against the negative views of society metaphorically. For Ishmael and Hatsue, the cedar tree is a sanctuary from society and the forces of prejudice that attempt to keep them apart. The tree is the only place where they are free to express their love for each another. Hidden in the woods, the cedar tree exists outside of society; dead and hollowed out, it exists outside of time. The tree exists in a different world that is unaffected by chance, circumstance, and the prejudices of others.The tree shelters Ishmael and Hatsue from storms both literal, such as the falling rain and snow, and figurative, such as war and prejudice. The tree's isolation, however, prevents the couple from living fully in the world and from accepting and acknowledging that life is not always fair. For Hatsue, in particular, the tree becomes a prison of deceit, leading her to believe in a relationship that is untenable in the face of the pressures of the outside world. The tree imprisons Ishmael in a similar fashion, locking him into an unrealistic vision of the world that eventually hurts him.

The most prominent element of nature that Guterson used as a metaphorical tool to develop and resolve conflict was snow. Throughout his novel he writes about and describes the snow that falls on the small island on the Puget Sound in northern Washington. Guterson's descriptive words about the snow generally parallel the racism that dominates Kabuo's trial. Kabuo stands accused of murdering local fisherman, Carl Heine Jr., who fought against the Japanese in World War II. "Outside, a winter storm is brewing... The snow quietly blankets the island- much like the silent prejudice that shrouds its 'five thousand damp souls'"(Pate 106).

From the very start of the trial Guterson unveils the presence of racism. On the first day of the trial the racism had already greatly influenced the likely outcome of the trial. "Snow fell that morning outside the courthouse windows... wind from the sea lofted snowflakes against the windowpanes."(Snow Falling 4). Almost the entire community was already blinded by prejudice as the snow was falling on the island. "The snow blurred from vision the clean contours of the cedar hills"(Snow Falling 5). As the snow fell on the island it covered the cedars and made it very hard for anyone to see that the trial was a trial of a man, and not the trial of a Japanese man. "In the gallery the citizens stood... watching the snow lash toward them" (Snow Falling 28). Prejudice, like snow, was predetermined.

As the trial of Kabuo advances and more evidence is introduced, the thread of racism in the trial is much more vivid and evident. All of the evidence circumstantially incriminates Kabuo for murder. Again, Guterson uses snow as a metaphorical tool to develop the growing conflicts in the novel. As racism and prejudice become more and more evident the snowfall increases. "the falling snow beyond the courtroom windows... was coming (down) harder now, much harder"(Snow Falling 60). The racism that is represented by snow continues unnoticed by the people in the town. As the snow thickens no one really seems to notice the progression of the storm. "By noon, three inches (of snow) had settled on the town, a snow so ethereal it could hardly be said to have settled at all... The wind flung it sharply at their narrowed eyes and foreshortened their view of everything"(Snow Falling 170). The snow acts as a blind fold to the community; no one can see the reality of what the snow could do or how silently and unnoticed the snow could warp the trial so far from its intended purpose. "As the snow buries the island, Guterson's narrative begins to reveal the community's secret heart, the injustice that may break it in two."(Pate 107)

Snow is used in a very descriptive manner by Guterson, as his readers are treated to many different literal forms of snow. "Hard falling," "wind whipped," "lashing," "clean," "beautiful, still, sun-dappled and silent are some of the different adjectives that Guterson utilizes to bring the recognizable reality of snow quite literally from the pages to the readers' mind. The snow changes in these scenes in the story as Guterson progresses from the beginning to the end of the trial as described below.

In the novel, "snow (has) covered all the island roads" (Guterson 252), and this "inclement weather" (Guterson 313) occurring in San Piedro is one for the decade. Guterson did not put a harsh snowstorm into the setting of the book for nothing; he knew that snow signifies many other things besides just being something white and fluffy. Ironically, the snowstorm starts with the commencing of the trial, and ends with the ending. Guterson employed the snowstorm during the trial because snow can be severe and harsh, which is reminiscent of the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto, which is equally….....