Stranger In The Kingdom vs. Snow Falling on Cedars
When I first read Howard Frank Mosher's novel Stranger In The Kingdom I was astonished that something like that took place in Vermont. I have always been under the misconception that racism isn't extremely prevalent in our local culture today. Once again my white American's views were challenged when I read Snow Falling On Cedars, by David Guterson. The two books seem to me to be exactly the same story, only they occur about forty years apart from each other. The book are so synonymous with each other, that most of the characters are comparable. As the story of David Guterson's book unfolds, we find ourselves looking through the eyes of a man that has lived on the island for most of his life. His name is Ishmael Chambers. Ishmael seems to be a perceptive child, and soon gets to know one of the island's many Japanese girls, named Hatsue. As fate would have it, they fall in love with each other in Shakespeare-like-fashion. The problem of them coming from two different races of people forces them to be secretive about their relationship. When Hatsue is forced to move away because of WWII regulations, she ends her relationship with Ishmael, sending him into a life fil
Ever since Columbus first set foot on the New World, racism and prejudice has been an issue. I personally have always been a little more cognizant than most youths about racism, due to my father's work with Cesar Chavez. The media has been good about publicizing events about the struggle for equality, especially the struggle that continues to this day in the south. One area of racism in our history that I had never heard of before, was the rounding up of oriental people during WWII. My mind immediately flashed back to scenes during Steven Spielberg's hit Schindler's List. Jews being rounded up into concentration camps became synonymous with millions of oriental faces living in mediocre (at best) conditions. Why hadn't any of my previous history classes ever covered this topic? Why, at 17 years of age and a junior in high school was I only becoming aware of it now? Provocative thoughts such as these kept circling through my head as Hatsue described the conditions in the camps. I believe that we have enough books like Stranger In The Kingdom in our repertoire. Books such as Snow Falling On Cedars is a book that should be more widely taught to enlighten students about the issues our country seems to forget.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 825
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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