Snow Falling On Cedar Essay, Research Paper

The Other in Snow Falling on Cedars

During the dark days of World War II, the American government made a decision based on prejudice and fear, to intern Japanese Americans. These interment camps were largely based in the Northwest. Hardworking Japanese citizens were forcibly taken from their jobs and homes and held against their will. It is a part of the history that the people are now ashamed of and rightfully so. This was caused by the human behavior of creating the other to project our insecurities, fears, and blindness through our actions and through our expressions. It is described as a person being out cased by the society because of their individuality. The other in Snow Falling on Cedars has unquestionably engage in recreating a certain viewpoint of the Japanese citizens in spite of the war against the Japanese. During the time of war, the Americans had a psychological tendency to frame up an opinion on the Japanese because of their appearance, culture, and beliefs. This made an enormous effect on the outcome of Kabuo Miyatoto s trial who was accused of murdering Carl Heine. However, the evidences found by Ishmal Chambers, a local reporter, cleared Kabuo s name of the murder of Carl Heine as the book was culminating. The other was clearly demonstrated in the novel, Snow Falling on the Cedars, as Kubuo was delineated as a man of suspicion throughout the novel.

The novel has clearly demonstrated numerous of different type of characteristic of person in the novel. Insecurity was a common trait that s frequently projected out from a person. It is often shown through the expression of vilifying a person or making a judgement of another. In this case, Etta depicted Kabuo as a deceiving person because of his looks and behavior. He looked large and coarse, the Japanese man smaller and clear-eyed. They were about the same age but the Jap looked younger, fifteen years younger at least. Etta put cups and saucers on the table, opened the sugar bowl. Pretty shrewd, for openers, she thought He was always nodding, thought Etta. It was how they got the better of you-they acted small, thought big (267). Etta s thought showed the insecurity of her own being. She was not certain about Kabuo which lead her to believe anything to be suspicious of him. She used the justification of how the appearance of a Japanese can be quiet deceiving and compared it with the appearance of Carl. She described that although a man can look tough and big, it was the ones that look small and weak that are most capable of committing such crime. The novel illustrated that Kabuo used as a way to show the insecurity of some people.

Kabuo Miyatoto was also depicted as a man of violence and brutality for the reason that Japanese are extremely talented in fighting. Japanese were known for its martial arts such as Kendo. They used it as an evidence that Kabuo might of used it on Heine to kill him. Horace indicated for Art Moran the blood that had clotted in the dura mater and the tear in it where the piece of brain protruded. He got hit pretty hard with something fairly flat Art. Puts me in mind of a type of gun butt would I saw a few times in the war. One of those kendo strikes the Japs used. Stick fighting, said Horace explained, Japs are trained in it from when they re kids. How to kill with sticks (257). The assumption of the Japanese acknowledging how to use Kendo as a weapon to kill was a fear that came from them. Since that Kabuo was Japanese, they automatically assume that he knew that type of martial arts as well. The fear was projected on to something