Snow Falling On Cedars ~ Post 3

In these last few chapters that I have read, Kabuo reflects on how much he has missed since he has been in jail. He misses the seasonal change of autumn and wishes he wasn't stuck in his cell. He remembers how he fell in love with Hatsue, his wife, and remembers his argument with her about him leaving to fight in World War II. He realizes how much the war effected him as a person when he begins to look into his cell mirror. The Narrator states that, "He [Kabuo] face had been molded by his experiences as a soldier, and he appeared to the world seized up inside precisely because this was how he felt" (Guterson 154). This feeling of being seized up is paralleled to how Kabuo thinks that he has no chance in winning the court case. Kabuo wants to demonstrate his innocence to the jurors and when in his cell, the narrator states that Kabuo, "Sat upright in the hope that his desperate composure might reflect the shape of his soul" (Guterson 154).

In the past few chapters, this has really just stuck out to me because I was thinking about what it would be like to be in Kabuo's place. Kabuo is stuck in a world of suffering, racism and hate. Yet, through it all, Kabuo seems to manage to grasp clarity on the divine reasonings of life and how interconnected everything is. Time can only lead to his liberation. (I've included a quote down below...) Kabuo sees through the black and white world around him and finds the color of justice and equality. When it comes down to it, we're all human. Kabuo is a very interesting character because even though he seems to determine that yes, he probably will be sentenced as guilty, he contradicts himself in thinking that he will be liberated. This also often leads me into thinking that if I was in his spot, well, I don't know what I would do... But I'd defiantly not be thinking about how life was all worked out for a specific purpose.

This book so far has actually been quite interesting, and I'm still looking forward to what's next!!

Oh, I also thought I would throw in this interesting quote from the book...

"What a mystery life was! ... Impermanence, cause and effect, suffering, desire, the precious nature of life... time and clarity about suffering only to embark on the upward path of liberation" (Guterson 169).