Snow Falling on Cedars
Chapter 1
1. What impression do we get of Kabuo Miyamoto from the first paragraph?
2. The author wants us to imagine what the courthouse and surrounding area look like.
What do you see?
3.How long has the accused man been in the county jail?
4. After the initial description of the courthouse, we learn a bit about the island. What things
do we learn?
5. We are introduced to the character Ishmael Chambers at the end of the chapter. What do
we learn about him? How does he feel about the out-of-town reporters?
6. At the end of the chapter, Ishmael asks Hatsue (the accused man’s wife) if she is all right,
and she tells him to go away. Do we know why? Do we want to know why?
Chapter 2
1. The first person to testify (to speak in court) at the trial is Art Moran, the county sheriff.
He tells us about finding Carl Heine’s boat, which is called the Susan Marie. Explain what the
problem was with the boat. What do Art and his assistant, Abel, find (or not find) on the
boat?
2. Abel says to Art,” Let’s get his net in, Art.” Pages 4-5 talk about pulling in the net. What
do they find? What happens to Abel?
3. Describe Carl’s body, but don’t just read from the book. Try to say it your own way.
4. At the very end of the chapter, what discovery does Abel make on the body?
Chapter 3
1. Nels Gudmundsson is Kabuo Miyamoto’s defense attorney. He asks the sheriff a lot of
questions. What facts does he learn?
2. A lot of the discussion is about the battery. What is a battery? What was strange about
the battery situation?
3. At the end of the chapter, Nels asks, “Is it possible the deceased hit his head…?” What
does Nels want to prove here (remember – he is defending Kabuo).
Chapter 4
This chapter is about Ishmael (the reporter with one-arm). We learn a lot about him here.
1. After the war, what does he do? How does he feel about his life in Seattle?
2. Why did Ishmael become a journalist?
3. We learn quite a bit about Ishmael’s father (Arthur) in pp. 11-12. Discuss what you
remember about him.
4. Somewhere on p.12, the description shifts from Arthur to Ishmael. What do we learn
about Ishmael’s world view? What do we learn about his World War II experience?
5. Ishmael’s mother says to him (p. 13), “You’re your father’s son.” What does she mean by
this, and is it good or bad?
6. Describe the life of a gill-netter. Does it sound like an easy or a difficult life? Were the
gill-netters proud of who they were?
7. Ishmael is not a gill-netter, but they still respect him. Why?
8. We know that Susan Marie is the name of Carl’s boat. Who is the real Susan Marie?
9. When was Carl last seen, and how was the weather on the night that Carl died?
10. At the end of the chapter, Art and Ishmael have a serious conversation. Does Art think
that this was an accident? What does Art not want Ishmael to do? What deal do they make?
Chapter 5
This chapter takes place in the coroner’s office. A coroner is a doctor who tries to find out
why and how a person died. He performs an autopsy (an investigation of the dead body) to
get information). You will read the word “Jap” here. “Jap” is a not nice way to speak about
Japanese people. During World War II, many people called the Japanese “Japs”, and they
called Germans “Krauts”. You need to understand that when someone says “Jap”, it’s an
insulting thing to say.
1. Art and Abel bring the body to Horace (the coroner). Why does Art have to leave right
away?
2. Why do you think Horace told Abel to sit in the waiting room?
3. The description of the body is very long, and it is kind of disgusting. What do you
remember about it? It’s OK if you skipped some of this.
4. Why could the watch that Horace finds (p.49) be important?
5. Horace has to think of Carl as a dead body and not as a man. Why?
6. Was Carl dead or alive when his body went into the water? How do we know?
7. Horace discovers the wound (the deep cut) on Carl’s head, and this makes him think of
his experience in World War II in the Pacific (fighting against the Japanese). What does he
remember?
8. What does Horace show to Art?
9. Do you know who Sherlock Holmes was? Why do Art and Horace talk about him?
10. On p. 20, it says that Horace said to Art Moran “that if he wanted to play Sherlock
Holmes, he ought to start looking for a Jap with a bloody gun handle – a right-handed Jap to
be precise.” Why does Horace say/think this?
11. In the courtroom, Nels questions Horace. At the end of the section, Nels says, “nothing
showed for certain that Carl Heine had been the victim of an attack.” Did Horace agree or
disagree?
12. Art is in the courtroom, and he remembers going to tell Susan Marie that her husband
was dead. How did Art feel about telling the bad news to Susan Marie? How does Susan
Marie react to the news?