Ignorance In David Guterson's 'Snow Falling On Cedars'

In order for a human being to achieve true enlightenment, they must strive towards blissful ignorance. David Guterson’s, “Snow Falling on Cedars” involves protagonist Hatsue Imada, and her spouse Kabuo Miyamoto. Kabuo, a World War two veteran, is trialled in court for the murder of the Germans, the guilt weighing him heavily. Guterson makes the racism against the Japanese evident throughout the novel, and the impacts it has towards Japanese-Americans. Ursula Kroeber Le Guin’s short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” takes place in the quaint, utopian city of Omelas, and the disasters that lurk beneath. The happiness of the citizens relies solely on the misery of a single child, locked away and hidden from the rest of civilization.

Guterson uses the line, “Yet the suspicion that he loved more deeply than she did nevertheless remained with him,” to show Ishmael’s concealed fears resonated deeply within him. Ishmael had known Hatsue never loved him the way he did her – always giving much of himself to her, and not being granted the same courtesy. Ishmael had constantly convinced himself that if he lived in his fairy tale, everything would be fine. He lived joyously in his own ignorance, certain that he and Hatsue would marry, pushing the truth that Hatsue never loved him down in the pits of his mind. Guin had also shared the same story of ignorance with Omelas, as the child locked away begged, “’Please let me out. I will be good.’ They never answer.” If they were to answer, it would be to submit to their guilt, which would only lead to their own self-destruction. Reality is dangerous and won’t lead to anything good, shown through Ishmael as he was bound to accept that Hatsue never thought he meant anything more than a friend to her. Hatsue’s rejection, “I don’t love you,” ignited a change within Ishmael, transforming into a pessimist, and finding no worth to life. Guterson conveyed Ishmael as a blatant misogynist with his line, “…he decided before long that he didn’t respect them and a kind of disgust developed.” Change and