David Guterson novel Snow Falling on the Cedars has a certain maturity, sweeping the reader away with its lush physical description. "The tide and the wind were pushing in hard now, and the current funneled through the mouth of the harbor; the green boughs and branches of the fallen trees lay scattered across the clean snow. It occurred to Ishmael for the first time in his life that such destruction could be beautiful."
Snow Falling on the Cedars has a unique narrative style that allows the readers to generate an interactive view that persistently helps in the ‘whole’ view rather than a one dimensional picture of the characters. Through the use of flash backs and slow provision of information Guterson is not only able to create the conflicts between characters and events but he is also able to present a suggestive concept of theme and plot. Consider that in Chapter 1, he writes, “The accused man, Kabuo, was someone he [Ishmael] knew,” yet there is no elaboration on that point and we have no sense of the intricacies of their relationship. Throughout the novel we see how literary techniques are used to present the legal and moral conflicts that arise within the play.
Guterson seems to have no specific method of
relaying information. He merely furnishes certain
details randomly throughout the novel for the
best effect. A fact presented in Chapter 2 is
elaborated on in Chapter 30. While this may seem
to cause the reader to lose the facts related
to information the actual effect is quite extraordinary.
The facts and explanations in the book are divided for best effect. Much like a defense counsel presenting his information to have the strongest effect on the jury, Guterson uses this narrative technique to provide a legal and yet, literary presentation of his story. The concept being presented is that facts are merely one side of the story, to get to the truth the situation has to be analyzed.
Throughout the book we realize the story is not only about the search for the legal truth but also the search for the divine self revelation of the characters. For until the characters accept the situations and events in their life there can be no justice. Only when they let go of the hatred that they feel for others can they grow and accept that the law will bring justice.
Consider Chapter 4 where Ishamel is covering the trial. He is a part of the press and attempts to cover the story without prejudice and bias and yet, his own personal negative feelings, his losses during the war and Carl’s death all flow through his mind causing the reader to doubt the facts he will present in his news report. Here the doubts are further fueled when Guterson creates a flashback to the day after Carls death when Ishmael goes to the docks to question the fisherman about Carl’s death. Ishmael is not seen as one of ‘them’ for he does not work for nature but rather for a corporation. They hesitate to talk to him and yet he persuades Art to reveal the details to him with the promise that he will not publish that Carl’s death may have been a murder. This compromise seems a denial of the facts and readers again question the morality of Ishmael’s decision.
Then in Chapter 5 we see that again personalities
get in the way of facts as the coroner Horace
Whaley's concept of the self becomes an issue
as he speculates about the cause of the fractured
skull. His guilt about the death of the soldiers
under him during the war and his perception of
himself as a weakling causes him to make some
false conclusions about the fracture to Carl’s
skull and in turn takes the defense through a
whole new series of speculations.
We see again, that the law is not above being manipulated by people knowingly or unknowingly and when facts are presented without a proper background they are open to interpretations and can be perceived a number of ways.
Because we learn of the facts surrounding Carl’s death through the narratives of those around him we realize that they are all prone to a bias. The actual presentation should be a bit more precise but because of the individual narration the facts get lost and open to conclusion causing circumstantial evidence to be the base of the case.
It is through the line, “…It occurred to Ishmael for the first time in his life that such destruction could be beautiful," that we see the transformation of characters and the melding of law and literature taking place.
Throughout the book we have seen Ishmael as a character that is weak and idealistic, his decisions have been based on sentimentality and his cynicism emerges more from self doubt than anything else.
The realization that life is imperfect allows him to take decisions that are more impersonal and legal than anything else and suggest that the law can only be just when the impersonal view is taken. When emotions and feelings are allowed to be the base of judgment then the testimonies and the evidence become tainted and no justice can be reached.
The right and just decision is reached when Ishmael lets go of his biases and complexes and reaches a decision to accept life as it is. He does not seek perfection anymore and thus sees things more clearly.
The time at which the book was written was one
when there was chaos all around, the society was
changing and the roles of men and women interactively
and within society were changing. This created
a dilemma for many as the people were unable to
reconcile to the change. Many refused to change
and see the differences in society and thus created
a stagnant effect that caused many conflicts to
occur.
Racism, bias, prejudice, discrimination were all to some effect responsible for the discrepancies that took place during the trial and Guterson attempted to create a narrative technique that was much like the evidence being presented in court, open to interpretation, unless all the facts were seen without individualism. From Kabau to Ishmael they all tamper with the trial causing legal justice to be misrepresented.
We see that Kabuo lies to his lawyer: “For when Nels Gudmundsson had asked for his side of the story . . . two and a half months ago he’d stuck with the lie he’d told Sheriff Moran: he didn’t know anything about it, he’d insisted, and this had deepened his problems.” Then consider that during the trial Ishmael understands that the process ois unfair but does not have the will to do anything but write an opinion, “How we all hope the justice system does its job.” … “Sometimes I wonder if unfairness isn’t . . . part of things. I wonder if we should even expect fairness, if we should assume we have some sort of right to it.”
Thus, we see that the literary concepts of the author are deliberately used to underline the theme of justice so that the readers understand how facts can be manipulated and the task of justice becomes tainted with personality and bias. The information brought in front of the jury cannot be stated without bias and unless the bias is found and removed the lawyers are unable to bring justice.
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