from Snow Falling on Cedars

by David Guterson

BEFORE READING

In February 1942, in response to the military and growing national pressure, President Roosevelt established the War Relocation Authority (WRA). The purpose of this new governmental body was to evacuate the Japanese-American population living along the West Coast and detain them in isolated, prison-style internment camps until the end of the war.

Military experts justified this security policy on the grounds that this region of the country was highly vulnerable to Japanese invasion, and that the local Japanese Americans were considered a largely disloyal ethnic group capable of aiding the enemy through spying and sabotage. To the 120,000 Japanese Americans who were uprooted and forced under WRA authority, the country had made racism legal, and the constitutional rights that most had been given were now completely and painfully meaningless.

In this selection, you will read a depiction of harsh issues that one Japanese-American family had to face on the day the FBI visited their home to enforce this new wartime policy.

David Guterson (b. 1956), U.S. educator, short story writer, and novelist, began his career as a high school English teacher in his home state of Washington. His writings include short stories, novels, and literary contributions to national magazines about life in America.

This selection is based on Guterson’s widely acclaimed first novel, Snow Falling on Cedars (1994), where he writes of the dramatic, long-term impact the country’s wartime internment policy had on the lives of some Japanese-American residents of Washington state.

Guterson’s other works include a biography of his mother, Chaia Sonia: A Family’s Odyssey, Russian Style (1980), a short story collection called The Country Ahead of Us, The Country Behind (1989) and Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense (1992).

1. contraband—prohibited goods or merchandise.

2. stevedores—people who work at loading and

    unloading ships in port.

3. persevere—to persist in spite of opposition or

    discouragement.

4. ego—the self (as contrasted to another self or the

    world).

5. cloddish—a dull, stupid person; a dolt.

6. aliens—owing political allegiance to another country or

    government; foreign.

7. sash—an ornamental band or ribbon worn around the

    waist or shoulder.

8. illusion—an erroneous perception of reality.

9. sacrifice—forfeiture of something highly valued.

10. serene—unaffected by disturbance; calm.

DURING READING

Use the STUDY GUIDE below as a way to work through the selection and improve your comprehension of the essay.

AFTER READING

Answer the Questions to Consider questions in the book as a way to deepen your interpretation of the selection.

1. What do you think the FBI man means when he says, "It’s complicated, but that's the way it is. There’s a war on and that’s the way it is"?

2. Why did Hatsue’s mother gather her and her sisters to tell them again about her own difficult odyssey from Japan to America? What was her point in retelling her children this story?

3. What does Hatsue’s mother mean when she says to her, "I hope you will carry your purity with you always and remember the truth of who you are"?

Bibliography

David Guterson

Chaia Sonia: A Family’s Odyssey, Russian Style (1980)

The Country Ahead of Us, The Country Behind(1989)

Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense (1992)

Snow Falling on Cedars (1994)

John Armor and Peter Wright, Manzanar (1988). A description of the Manzanar internment camp, with photographs by Ansel Adams.

Roger Daniels, Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese-Americans in World War II (1993). A highly recommended history of the Japanese-American relocation.

John Dower, War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (1986). A Japanese history specialist’s landmark study of racism against Japanese in the United States during the war.

Deborah Gesensway, Beyond Words: Images from America’s Concentration Camps. A collection of paintings created by Japanese-American internees in the camps.

Audrie Girdner and Anne Loftis, The Great Betrayal (1969). An account of evacuation and internment, mostly in the words of those who experienced it.

David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars (1994). An award-winning novel that views the internment experience through the eyes of a young Japanese-American girl.

Peter Irons, Justice at War: The Inside Story of the Japanese-American Internment (1983). Legal aspects of internment and interviews with three defendants whose cases reached the Supreme Court.

John Tateishi, And Justice for All: An Oral History of the Japanese-American Detention Camps (1984). Stories of the detention camps told by those who lived in them.

Yoshiko Uchida, Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese-American Family (1982). A prize-winning children’s author tells the story of her family’s removal and internment.