The Nature of Love Theme in Snow Falling on Cedars by Guterson David, 1994

The novel Snow Falling on Cedars captures the painful and hectic war legacy beautifully and the struggle of a community to find a solution for the pain. The novel presents the scenario that surrounds Heine Carl, who is a fisherman on San Pedro island, an island that the poem refers to as having damp souls, lying in the Washington State's coastal region. Kabuo Miyamoto, of Japanese descent, is the main suspect in the murder. Hutsue Imada, Kabuo's wife, is so much grieved by the fact that his husband is the prime suspect in the crime. Also, Ishmael Chambers is so much astonished by knowing that it is Kabuo Miyamoto who is the main suspect in Carl Heine's death. Throughout the world, love is everywhere. People typically tend to affiliate love with good happenings, whereby couples embrace togetherness, giving one another a leaning shoulder when one feels low. However, love sometimes can turn sour and make couples spend sleepless nights without answers as to why the affair is becoming worse. Therefore, in the poem Snow Falling on Cedars, the theme of the nature of love is presented, whereby individuals love one another but end up breaking up and moving their different ways.

As mentioned above, the theme of the nature of love is evident in the novel 'Snow Falling on Cedars.' The story presents Chambers breaking up with Imada, whereby Imada on with decides to move on with Kabuo (Guterson, 24). In the real world, it is evident that people like one another and end up developing more interest and attraction to one another. Balzarini et al. mention that appeal is the first force that leads to the development of love affairs (191). In other words, people have to get attracted to one another before commencing the love journey. Practically, even after falling in love, it is a common phenomenon that people might get into disagreements and break up, hence defining the actual nature of love. Here, the reality comes out that regardless of people loving one another immensely, they should equally be prepared that breakups do often happen and that divorcing is not necessarily the end of life. Hatsue and Ishmael break their intimate relationship despite loving each other deeply (Guterson, 64). Therefore, the novel 'Snow Falling on Cedars presents the theme of the nature of love, whereby the author typically explains how love is sweet and sometimes sour.

Additionally, the novel 'Snow Falling on Cedars' presents deceit as another form of exploring the nature of love. The life of love is that love has no boundaries regarding ethnicity, race, or even gender. When someone loves the other, they focus less on the societal restrictions that bind them. For instance, Hatsue, a Japanese girl, is perpetual remorseful, considering that she often lies to her parents to meet Ishmael, a white man (Guterson, 39). Also, Ishmael tells his parents that he is not dating a Japanese girl (Guterson, 41). Both Hatsue and Ishmael do not want their parents to know their relationship, courtesy of the present hostility between the Japanese and the whites. Regardless of both lovebirds knowing that deceiving their parents is wrong and that they will be caught up once, they continue to lie, making their relationship as intimate and private as possible. Practically, in the current world, teenagers often fear engaging in love affairs publicly. They prefer to keep their love affairs a secret and live in denial of their acts. Thus, the act of both Hatsue and Ishmael deceiving their parents regarding their relationship is a true reflection of the nature of love, whereby people fall in love, putting less focus on the customs and societal strings that they need to embrace. The society conflicts between parents or communities cannot stop people from loving one another. A man can date a girl from another race who is considered to be an enemy to their community, just like Ishmael dates Hatsue, despite the Japanese-White conflicts. Racism cannot hinder love.

Moreover, the theme of the nature of love is equally evident in the novel under the characters Carl and Kabuo. Rewarding for good deeds is the nature of love. Upon helping Carl's boat from sinking, Carl decides to sell his piece of land to Kabuo (Guterson, 102). As such, it shows that love develops in the other person when they receive good deeds and a sense of care. One should keep in mind that Kabuo and Carl read from different scripts as the novel commences, considering that Kabuo is Japanese and Carl is white. It is the decision and warm-heartedness of Kabuo that proves to Carl that, indeed, Kabuo is not a good man. The help that Kabuo offers to Carl, preventing him from sinking his boat, critically makes Carl change his mind, consequently selling his piece of land to Kabuo. At this point, the author wants to show us the nature and dictations of love, whereby love develops among others when they equally show a great sense of concern and loyalty.

Conclusively, the theme of the nature of love highlights the different societal happenings that happen in love. For instance, people love one another deeply but end up disagreeing, parting ways, and even finding new lovers, as evident among Ishmael, Hatsue, and Kabuo. Above all, the theme of the nature of love exemplifies the fact that love is earned and not deserved, in that one has to act right for one to win another's love.

Works Cited

Balzarini, Rhonda, Dobson, Kate, Chin, Kerry, and Campbell, Lucas. "Does exposure to erotica reduce attraction and love for romantic partners in men? Independent replications of Kenrick, Gutierres, and Goldberg (1989) study 2." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 70 (2017): 191-197.

Guterson, David. Snow falling on cedars. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-582-41928-5 (1994) 1-460).