Some notes on the presentation of women in Snow Falling on Cedars


1. less attention is paid to the female characters as the focus appears to be on the central male characters - Kabuo, Ishmael; each representing an emotionally scarred war veteran and each undergoing a trial of conscience deriving from a sense of responsibility.

2.however, closer examination reveals that the women characters play a significant role and themselves face moral dilemmas, decisions and trials the outcomes of which contribute significantly to the novel's plot and themes.

3. Hatsue's choices are at the very heart of the novel's theme concerning races living together. She represents the contrary pulls of family/culture and heart. She demonstrates the incremental change towards integration and mutual understanding that is the book's message. Oceans don't mix....but

4. Etta Heine shows us that those least comfortable in their personal identities can be the most prejudiced' her attitudes and rudenesses are a microcosm of the type of blind prejudice found within the macrocosm of American society.

4. Helen Chambers represents both the living reality of the novel's last sentence, living her life by her liberal and enlghtened attitudes despite the dominant culture, and the perceptive, caring maternal figure who understands her son's plsychological state and needs. Her enlightened outlook is shown literally by her statement.......and symbolically by her cleared pathway through the snow, snow being consistently a symbol for prejudice within the novel.


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