Examples Of Bias In Snow Falling On Cedars

Guilty Until Proven Innocent: Unconscious Bias

Unconscious bias occurs when a person unknowingly attributes negative characteristics to a person or group based on a stereotype. Throughout its history, the United States justice department has not been immune to this bias; in fact, it outwardly shows racial bias in many circumstances. In his novel Snow Falling on Cedars, David Guterson demonstrates unconscious bias through multiple characters, such as Sheriff Art Moran and Alvin Hook when Kabuo, a Japanese American man, is on trial for murder in San Piedro during the World War II era. The events surrounding Kabuo’s arrest and trial are a direct result of the unconscious bias found in San Piedro’s legal system that mirrors the discrimination

Throughout the trial, Hooks and the prosecution present no concrete facts and build an entire case for the jury’s bias to act on. One of the witnesses, the deceased’s wife, was brought to the stand not for her testimony, but for the jury to see the distress of this white woman. Hooks described his thinking of Susan Marie Heine on the stand as “she would persuade them not precisely with what she had to say but with the entirety of who she was” (Guterson 287). He hoped that the jury would shift their focus towards their emotions and disregard the facts of the trial. If the jury focuses more on “the entirety of who she was”, a devastated white woman who allegedly lost her husband to a Japanese man, their emotions will provoke their unconscious bias to convict Kabuo. During his closing statements, Hooks asks the jury to “take a good look … at the defendant sitting over there. Look into his eyes, consider his face, and ask yourselves what your duty is as citizens of this community” (Guterson 415). When Hooks asks the jury to “consider his face” he is asking the jury to think about Kabuo’s Japanese face. During World War II, America viewed Japanese people as the enemy and Kabuo’s face is a reminder of that enemy. Despite the fact that Kabuo is an American citizen and a veteran, Hooks hopes to remind the jury of their fear. Ultimately, he hopes that the jury makes their decision based on their feelings and their bias, rather than the facts presented. The way that Alvin Hooks phrases his sentences and makes his remarks illustrates how Hooks elicits the jury’s