Snow Falling On Cedars

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Introduction The numbness was a medical symptom of the disease, leprosy, now called Hansen’s disease, but it was a emotional symptom of the Japanese relocation after Pearl Harbor. Over 8,000 were banished to the island of Kalaupapa and about 1,200 Japanese were sent to multiple camps, like Manzanar in California. From 1898 and 1988, those involved in the Leprosy containment and the Pearl Harbor relocation were equally in need of assistance and it was not until years later that they were brought back into reality. In Molokai by Alan Brennert and Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson, these two individual ideas are similarly explained. In addition, death, separation, and war were topics discussed in the novels (“Snow Falling on Cedars”; …show more content…
In Molokai, characters died as frequently as a person is diagnosed with leprosy. Over 8,000 people had contracted the disease, were sent to Molokai, and died on the island without any outside contact. The novel demonstrates this successfully by allowing the main character, Rachel, to survive until the later 1900s. She witnessed many deaths, such as her uncle, all of her friends, Leilani, Emily, Haleola, and her beloved husband, Kenji. Death was seen as a relief from the dreaded, numb disease of leprosy. Sister Catherine, one of the sisters in the church on the island, struggled with the haunting of death. She jumped into the harsh waters of the ocean to end her grief, but Rachel then rescued her, allowing her to escape from death’s daring grip around her mind. Alternatively, in Snow Falling on Cedars, death is a conflict within the novel. Carl Heine was killed, which resulted in the trial for his murderer, that is the center of the novel. His death re established rivalries and separated, but joined some families. In each novel, the demonstration of the fates of death and how it affects others are similar (Brennert; …show more content…
The two novels demonstrate main characters struggling, but constantly being able to fight through the pain and struggle. Rachel, from Molokai survived through many deaths of her loved ones and the banishment from her homeland. Through her loneliness and unstable emotional state from the disease, Rachel, in addition to others that are in the same situation as her, she was still capable of being unwavered. Since a young age, she had to work and care for herself, even though she did have some assistance from the sisters of the church on Kalaupapa. She was capable of surviving and thriving through these obstacles. In Snow Falling on Cedars, Kabuo struggles with the conviction of murder, which he did not commit. Hatsue and her family are taken to Manzanar, a camp where those of Japanese descent were taken after Pearl Harbor. They both had overcome their struggles (Brennert;
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