Snow Falling on Cedars

To portray conflicting perspectives within a text one must either agree or disagree with a certain side. It is through this that composers of texts cannot present an even-handed, unbiased point of view due to their personal opinions and experiences. To a great extent this is evident in the use of structure and personal pronouns within the texts ‘Snow Falling On Cedars’, a novel by David Guterson, the poem ‘My genocide’ by Romaine Moreton and the film ‘The Queen’ directed by Stephen Frears.

Guterson’s use of structure to create conflicting perspectives reflects an inherent bias. SFOC is a circular narrative without a linear timeline; it is through the use of flashbacks that the audience gains further insight into the background behind the court trial and the evident racial tension. Guterson begins in the middle of the story allowing the characters to narrate and identify the conflicting perspectives. Through this the reader is able to experience multiple sides of the same situation. When Guterson chooses to add a certain amount of information about the past highly influences the readers perspective, swaying them more towards what he believes it true. The story is told in third person with Ishmael being the focus in which the reader relates to. Although he himself is not free from racism he comes the closest to representing harmony between the two races through his romance with Hatsue. Narrative through the consciousness of different characters allows the reader to see the conflicting perspectives of the novel from many different view points however it always comes back to Ishmael as he is the character in which greatly reflects Guterson’s opinion. This demonstrates Guterson’s bias, as he is reflected in his character of Ishmael, encouraging the responder to agree with him. Guterson’s structure demonstrates his inability to present an even-handed, unbiased attitude in the portrayal of conflicting perspectives due to his personal opinions.  

Frears use of...