"Snow Falling on Cedars," a novel written by David Guterson, is set in 1954 San Piedro Island, just north of Puget Sound. The novel follows the trial of a Japanese American man named Kabuo Miyamoto who is accused for murdering a local fisherman. Throughout the trial, the reader is introduced to Kabuo's wife and a journalist, who the reader learns used to have an intimate relationship with each other. San Piedro Island is a small isolated place where Japanese descendants and non Japanese live in strictly segregated based of social differences. The application of creating an explicit prejudice feel, not only in the courtroom during Kabuo's trial, but also in the relationship between Kabuo's wife and the journalist reveals the ignorance and hate that much of America felt after attack on pearl harbor, and how it affects society and justice as a whole.
The novel begins with the introduction of a court room containing members of the local community. The room is cold and gray, which mirrors the reactions and feelings toward the entire situation of the murder of a fisherman that might have been done by a Japanese American. Just after World War Two, much of the United States of America viewed the Japanese people as cruel, uncivilized, and non decent human beings. Throughout the novel, the racism shown toward the Japanese can be seen with vivid clarity during the scenes take place in the court room. The prosecutor, many times mentions the race of the defendant, but in such a way that cannot be said was racist. The prosecutor at the end of the trial tells the jurors to "consider Kabuo's eyes and face when they decide their verdict" which clearly is reference to the fact that Kabuto is not a white American. During the trial, the prosecutor also questions Kabuo's wife Hatsue. In questioning Hatsue, every time she is about to give a reason for her actions, the prosecutor puts her off, not allowing her to make the comments on the racism of the town as she would like to.