Snow Falling on Cedars
Study Guide Questions
Ms. Thomas
Chapter Nine
1. Character: Etta Heine, Carl Heine’s mother. Where was she born? How did she
meet Carl Heine Sr.? What did she do for a living? Did she like San Piedro? How
many children did she have? By the end of the chapter, what is your impression of
Etta?
2. Where was Carl junior when his father died?
3. Who did Etta sell the strawberry farm to?
4. How does Etta know Kabuo Miyamoto?
5. Who is Zenhichi Miyamoto?
6. How much land does Zenhichi want to buy from Carl Sr.?
7. Describe Carl Sr. and Etta’s conflicting views of Zenhichi (117-120). Pull out a
quotation for each character supporting your statements (include page number).
8. Explain the outdated law(s) that Etta and the judge refer to on pages 121-122.
9. Explain how Carl Sr. and Zenhichi circumvented the law.
10. Describe Carl Sr.’s first concern versus Etta’s with news of the relocation of
“persons of Japanese ancestry” (125).
11. According to Carl Sr., how does this conflict reflect on their relationship (126)?
12. What agreement does Carl Sr. and Zenhichi come to about the land and the
payment?
13. Why does Etta make Carl Jr. take back the fishing rod?
14. After Etta sells the farm, what does she do with the money Zenhichi had paid?
Chapter 10 (134-151)
1. Etta recalls an encounter with Kabuo after the war, ““You haven’t done anything
illegal,” the Jap replied. “Wrong is a different matter”” (138). To what does this
statement refer? Do you agree with Kabu? Why or why not?
2. Why does Ole Jurgensen want to sell the farm? Who is interested and who does
Old shake hands with over the deal?
Chapter 11 (152-169)
1. What was Kabuo’s experience in the war?
2. Why does he somewhat except that he may face the death penalty even though he
claims he did not kill Carl (157)?
3. When at Manzanar was Kabuo certain that he loved Hatsue? Write out a
quotation that supports your answer.
4. What is a samurai? (Look it up if you need to.) Who teaches Kabuo the skills of a
samurai?
Chapter 12 (170-176)
1. What is the difference between Hatsue and Ishmael in their spiritual natures?
2. What is beginning to interfere with Hatsue and Ishmael’s young love?
Chapter 13 (177-192)
1. How does Arthur’s “Plain Talk” editorial after the attack on Pearl Harbor attempt
to be a voice of reason and calm? Pull out a quotation from the article (184-185)
to discuss.
2. What is Hatsue’s and Ishmael’s reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbor?
3. Give an example of the hysteria experienced in the town.
4. How do the town’s people and advertisers react to the reporting in the newspaper?
5. Name two other town’s people besides Arthur that demonstrate they agree with
him.
Chapter 14
1. Who comes to search Hatsue’s house?
2. What besides weapons and explosives are taken from Hatsue’s family home?
What do you think of this?
3. What happens to Hisao Imada?
4. Explain the difference according to Fujiko (Hatsue’s mother) between a white
person’s ego and a Japanese ego.
5. How does Hatsue feel about her heritage at this point in the book?
6. Where does Hatsue go when she is upset? Write out a quotation describing some
of the landscape.
7. What statement does Ishmael make about love? (208)
8. How does the high school athletic coach react to the forced relocation?
9. Although Hatsue does not want to marry Ishmael, what qualities does she admire
about him? (215)
Chapter 15
1. Where did Hatsue live with her mother and four sisters when she was first
relocated?
2. Describe the space and supplies that the Imadas were given at Manzanar (219).
3. Who discovers Ishmael’s love letter to Hatsue? What happens?
4. What did Kabuo and some other boys do for the Imadas?
5. What does Hatsue decide to do about Ishmael?
6. What dream do Kabuo and Hatsue share?
Chapter 16
1. What does Ishmael Chambers train for in the army?
2. Why does Ishmael accept his illness with a type of satisfaction?
3. How does Ishmael connect with others in the army?
4. What does Ishmael write to Hatsue? What does he do with the letters? (235 and
237)
5. Ishmael was part of a force that stormed a beach. What was his role? What
happened to his gear?
6. Find the passage that Ishmael is injured (249). Write out the sentence.
7. There is a great sense of despair from Ishmael at the end of the chapter. Do you
blame him for blaming Hatsue verbally? Why do we often blame others for
situations that really are of no fault to them?
Chapter 17
1. Describe the weather during the first afternoon of the trial.
2. What evidence does Alvin Hooks submit to the jury?
3. What led the sheriff to Kabuo?
Chapter 18
1. What five concerns about Kabuo does the sheriff tell the judge in order to get a
search warrant?
2. What is the judge’s view of Etta?
3. What seems to be a bad omen for Kabuo?
4. What is found on Kabuo’s boat that seems to be point toward guilt?
Chapter 19
1. The jury is sequestered. What does this mean?
2. Dr. Sterling Whitman is called to the witness stand in order to testify what? (271)
3. What does Nels point out through questioning Whitman on page 277?
4. Army First Sergeant Victor Maples is called to the witness stand to testify what?
(281)
Chapter 20
1. Susan Marie is the last witness that Alvin Hooks calls to the stand for the
prosecution. What does she recall about Kabuo’s visit to see Carl?
2. Pull out the quotation from 297-298 that illustrates how the war complicated
Carl’s feelings about Kabuo.
3. Susan Marie realized after Carl had died that their relationship was base mostly
on what?
Chapter 21
1. What does Nels point out to the jury about Susan Marie’s testimony? How might
this help? (306-307)
2. What happens to the electricity at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 22
1. Who does Ishmael decide to call but can’t?
2. Describe the storm and pull out a quotation.
3. What is the judge concerned about with the jurors? (317)
4. What two reasons does Ishmael give for keeping his DeSoto?
5. How does the snow make Ishmael think about the land and trial? What does he
connect it to? (320-321)
6. Who does Ishmael discover stuck in the snow and how does he help?
7. Ishmael and Hatsue discuss fairness. She is specifically talking about the trial, he
is speaking about all of life. Record the quotation. (325)
8. How does Ishmael relate his relationship to Hatsue to her relationship to Kabuo?
(326)
Chapter 23
1. Why does Ishmael go to the lighthouse?
2. Describe Ishmael’s first encounter with Hatsue after the war. What advice does
she give him?
3. What does Ishmael find at the lighthouse that relates to the trial? (335)
4. Why doesn’t anyone know about this?
Chapter 25
1. Describe Helen Chambers.
2. What do Helen and Ishmael discuss concerning religion? (342)
3. What lie does Ishmael tell his mother? (343)
4. What is Helen’s concern about Ishmael’s view of the trial? (345)
5. What does Helen tell Ishmael he must do about his unhappiness? (347-348)
6. How is the egg Ishmael finds symbolic of his own soul? (349)
7. What does Ishmael read and reread?
8. What would his father have done with the information?
Chapter 26
1. What is Alvin Hooks getting at when he questions Hatsue about Kabuo’s state of
mind? (369-370)
2. Do you believe that Kabuo and Hatsue didn’t reveal what they knew about the
night of Carl’s death because they were afraid? (372) Why would they be afraid?
3. What information does Josiah Gillanders give the jury? (374-381)
Chapter 27
1. Armed with the sheriff’s report, Nels demands that Kabuo tell the truth about the
night of Carl’s death. “The truth” Kabuo states “isn’t easy” (392). Why isn’t it
easy for Kabuo? (391-392)
2. Why was it better to fish at Elliot Head in the fog than at Ship Channel? (394)
3. In what way did Kabuo view the lives of fish (399)?
4. How are Carl and Kabuo similar (402)?
5. What really happened out on the water between Carl and Kabuo?
6. Read the argument on page 404 and be prepared to discuss.
7. What does Carl still have that belonged to Kabuo? (405) How does Carl feel
about it? How does Kabuo feel about it?
8. What do the men agree upon about the land?
Chapter 28
1. What is insinuated when Alvin Hooks states, “You’re a hard man to trust” (411312)?
2. How does Kabuo’s cultural norms hurt him with the citizens in the courtroom?
(412)
Chapter 29
1. In Alvin Hooks closing statement what does he tell the court about Kabuo? (413)
2. What is premeditation? What does Nels state about it? (416)
3. What does Nels say that Alvin Hooks’ case is based on? (417)
4. Re-read from the bottom of 417 (starting at “Ladies and gentlemen”) to the
middle of 419 (ending at “Set him free, as you must.”) In your own words, what
statements does Nels make about humanity, injustice and individual responsibility
to the jury? What do you agree/disagree with?
5. What do you think is the most important instructions that the judge gives to the
jury? (420-421)
Chapter 30
1. Why is it difficult for Ishmael to hand over the evidence to the judge? (424)
2. How is Nels’ statement on 425 to Ishmael ironic?
3. What does Hatsue want Ishmael to write in the newspaper? What would
Ishmael’s father do? What does Ishmael do? (426-427)
4. Ishmael notices in the snowstorm that “destruction could be beautiful” (428).
How might this be a metaphor for Ishmael’s life?
5. Who is Alexander Van Ness and why is he important to the story (428)?
Chapter 31
1. Where does Ishmael sit when he visits his mother (436-437)? What might he gain
from revisiting his father’s space?
2. When Ishmael rereads Hatsue’s letter what does he realize about himself and
Hatsue’s view of himself.
3. What does Ishmael realize about his mother? (443)
4. What does Ishmael realize while revisiting the cedar tree? (443) How does this
symbolize a type of rebirth?
5. Were does he go when he leaves the tree? For what purpose? (444)
Chapter 32
1. What advice does Hatsue give to Ishmael? (446)
2. To whom does Ishmael and Hatsue bring Philip Milholland’s notes? (449)
3. What do they go to the Susan Marie to look for? What do they discover? (452454)
4. Analyze the final thoughts of Ishmael in the novel, “Well thought Ishmael…” to
the end of the novel (460).
5. What do you think Ishmael’s life will be like after the novel?