Snow_Falling_on_Cedars_'Conflicting_Perspectives'_Speech

Everything was conjoined by mystery and fate, and in his darkened cell he meditated on this. . . . He would have to . . . accept that the mountain of his violent sins was too large to climb in this lifetime. Good morning miss Pttman and fellow class members, Identity and place is a very large thematic concern throughout the wholebook Snow falling on Cedars, just as well, Justice is another thematic concern that holds a large importance in the text. Each of these two themes can be linked to conflicting perspectives easily, as conflicting perspectives the differentiation between personal views, and makes the stories of each side objective. The quote I used is an example of the theme of Justice as it depicts a scene in the book where Kobuo reflects on himself while in his holding cell, and comes to the conclusion that he is being put on trial as punishment for all the people he killed during the war with Germany. It links to conflicting perspectives as although Kabuo views the trial in this matter, he realises that the facial expression he has given throughout the whole trial shows no remorse for the death of Carl Heine and thus people in the court room conclude he is guilty. Also the people in the court see this trial as testing Justice on the death of Carl Hein, and not anything about the war with the Germans and all of their deaths. Identity and place is a large theme throughout the whole book is the main concept in this theme is the social separation between the Japanese Americans, and normal Americans. This is due to the fact that the setting of the book is in post World War II America, in 1954. Kobuo was on trial in the court room because he was accused of murdering Carl Hein, another fisherman from the area. Conflicting perspectives was a major part of the book because in the court room, all the non Japanese-Americans straight away had it set in their minds that Kobuo was guilty because of past events of the war between the Americans and Japanese. However, all of the Japanese-Americans who were in the court room were eager to hear the whole case and not judge by prejudice. There was a fact involved with the case that Kobuo was not a very popular member of the fishing community because he was Japanese and part of a minority that was secluded from other There was a separation of communities when the Japanese-Americans were all placed in internment camps during the war even after they had pledged their loyalty to America. This caused a large confusion within this community because if they were valued members of American society, they were uneasy of why they were put in these camps. Hatsue had an issue with her identity and place in the Japanese society as she was having a secret relationship with Ishmael when they were both young teenagers. She kept the relationship secret in fear of being judged by her community and cast off out side of their social circle. Hatsue was forced to break off the relationship with Ishmael by her mother and was told she had to keep to her Japanese roots, thus ending with her relationship with Kobuo. The socially accepted practise within their community was to keep all relations with other people strictly within their own culture. If people were to not keep to this custom, they were normally outcast or not socially accepted within their own communities. Justice would have to be the main theme of the book as Justice is what is trying to be accomplished through Kobuo’s trial on determining whether he was guilty or not. The court room is a metaphorical symbol of justice as this is the place where people go on trial to determine whether they are guilty of committing crimes and sentenced as punishments. Kobuo felt that he was put on trial as justice for all the people he killed during the German war. This justifies that during the whole trial, there was no expression of remorse, as he knew he was guilty of killing all those people, however the lack of facial expression is also seen by the people present in the trial that he has no remorse for the death of Carl and therefore must mean he is guilty, but in Japanese culture, showing emotion is not a practise that they partake in. The people of this culture are very proud and strong willed and don’t show remorse or any emotions. Conflicting perspectives can clearly be seen through this scene in the book as many of the people judge Kobuo by his facial expressions whereas the Japanese people know that there is more meaning behind what they can see, the same with Kobuo himself as he feels differently about the situation when he reflects on it in his holding cell.