„Snow falling on cedars“, by David Guterson

Task 1

The book is placed in 1954 on the island San Piedro, in a fishing village with many cedars. It is about the Japanese American Kabuo Miyamoto, who is charged for murder. The trial is the most important aspect in this story.
Kabuo is accused for killing Carl Heine. a fisherman who gets found being caught in his salmon net. Carl has a severe head injury, a cut in the hand, and the coroner finds out that he has died of drowning. His boat has been found with its lights on and a D-6 battery in it, the same as Kabuo needs for his boat, although Carl’s boat needs D-8 batteries. The night is very foggy, and everybody knows that Kabuo is the last man who has seen Carl at the harbour.
Kabuo has wanted to buy Carl’s mother’s strawberry farm, but because of 2 missing payments she has sold it to someone else. A few years later, Carl has bought the land back, but Kabuo still wants the land.
Kabuo’s wife, Hatsue, says that when Kabuo returned from fishing in the morning of the 16th of September, he was very excited, because Carl had admitted to sell the land to him.
Kabuo also says that he was fishing in this night, and then he recognized Carl who needed help, because his batteries were dead. Kabuo gave him one of his D-6. Then he returned to his boat to continue fishing. Hardly anyone believes this story, because he is Japanese, and does not seem to be faithful.
The twist of the people’s meaning comes when Ishmael takes new facts to court. He finds out that in that night a big ship came through these fishing areas which caused a huge wave which could throw anybody off a fishing boat. Carl might have climbed up the mast to save his lamp when he suddenly saw the ship passing by, then he might have not seen that a huge wave came and so he hit his head on the wooden side of the boat. Then he might have fallen into the salmon net and drowned.
Kabuo’s lawyer tells the jurors not to look at Kabuo with preconception, because he looks like an enemy soldier, but see him as an American man. After this he gets discharged.