Racism
The issue of racism has always been one surrounding much controversy. It is the type that hushes a crowd and touches the heart. The novel, Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson, exemplifies the dark shadow that racism casts on society. Through Kabuo's loss of land, the internment camps that Kabuo, Hatsue and their families experience, the break up of Ishmael and Hatsue, and Kabuo's murder indictment, racism still finds a way to affect a society.Before the years of war, Zenhichi, Kabuo's father, makes an illegal agreement with Carl Heine senior. This is a key conflict that changes everything. The agreement is based on an eight-year "lease-to-own" contract that the two men discuss and agree upon. When the war comes and the Japanese Americans are sent away to internment camps, everything changes. Nothing is quite the same as the war comes to an end. When the Miyamotos return to claim their land, they find out that the victim's mother, Etta, has cheated them. She has sold their seven acres of land to another farmer because the Miyamotos are unable to pay their last payment, due to circumstances caused by the war. This disrespectful action she takes is caused by her racist thoughts that she has toward the Japanese.
This is demonstrated in her conversation with her husband: she says, "We're not such paupers as to sell to Japs, are we? For new clothes? For a pouch of fancy pipe tobacco?" (Guterson 119). Her racism has cost the land of the Miyamotos and raises tension between the two families, which in turn, creates a motive for Kabuo to murder Etta's son. Racism puts an end to the relationship of Hatsue and Ishmael. Being born in that period of time is tragic for the lovers. It is the time when World War II just breaks out and tension between the Americans and the Japanese has grown stronger because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The U.S has declared war on Japan. The war changes everything: the life of people, the relationship between the Americans and the Japanese, and their perceptions of each other. Because of the difference between Hatsue and Ishmael's racial backgrounds, a gap is created in their relationship. Their parents strongly disapprove of their son and daughter dating or contemplating an interracial marriage. Despite the racial differences and their parents' disapproval, they still carry on their relationship behind their parents' backs. As time goes on, however, their relationship can no longer be sustained. The exposure of the secret letter that Ishmael writes to
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Approximate Word count = 861
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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