Snow Falling on Cedars

Why does Ishmael choose, ultimately, to show the Coast Guard report to the judge? Why is this decision difficult for him to make? How does this decision resolve or complicate the novel’s themes?

Ishmael Chambers notes that he shares the name of the famous narrator in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. In what way is this appropriate or symbolic? How does Guterson’s novel, like Melville’s, address the trope of destiny and fate?

The novel delves into the points of view of three mothers: Hatsue’s, Carl Heine’s, and Ishmael’s. What concern does each mother have for her child? Compare and contrast their motivations for asserting a specific position or belief in the novel. Do their children achieve what their mothers have hoped, and if not, what has been learned in the process?

How does the use of multiple points of view impact the novel’s conflict? How does it impact or shape the theme of truth?

Though the novel garnered rave reviews from many critics, the film based on the novel—released in 1999, five years after the book’s publication—did not. Examine the film in order to make your own judgments about what reviewers may have found objectionable or ineffective about the movie. If you were to make your own film version of the novel, what might you change? What would you be sure to include or enhance?

In an essay reflecting on the process of writing the novel, Guterson reveals that, initially, he did not want to include the trial in the book at all. Instead, the trial ultimately becomes an important element of the novel’s plot and structure. Consider possible reasons Guterson may have had for not wanting to include the trial. What is gained by including the trial? In what ways is its inclusion perhaps dominating? (Charles, Ron. “David Guterson Looks Back 20 Years Later on ‘Snow Falling on Cedars.’” The Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2014).

Letters are a recurring motif. What is the importance of such letters? What do the unsent letters reveal about their respective author and their relationship to the intended recipient?

The Japanese concentration camps are not the only instance of such action taken against a minority group. Research similar instances of concentration and determine the respective government’s motivation. What cultural misinformation or racial biases are at work? What was the effect on those displaced, and how does it overlap with the experiences in the novel? What did the government gain materially from these camps? Historical events you might examine include the Soviet Union’s Gulag camps, the British imprisonment of Irish citizens during the 1916 uprising, or the US’s forced relocation of Indigenous peoples.