David Guterson And His Use Of The Theme Of Nature Essay -- essays rese

David Guterson and His Use of the Theme of NatureDavid Guterson, a young American author, has written two major workingsregarding aspects of human nature and human emotions. His first publication, acollection of short stories, entitled The Country Ahead of Us, The CountryBehind addresses some of the moral dilemmas that populace face throughout theirlives. His first novel, Snow move on Cedars, narrates the trial of aJapanese man accused of executinging a white man in the post World War II era.Throughout his literary works, Guterson uses elements of nature land, trees,water and especially blow, as literal and metaphorical tools to develop andresolve conflicts.David Guterson uses the uniform aspects and characteristics of nature intwo different ways. First he describes in visual detail the literal or actualeffects that elements of nature cast on the characters in the story. But moreimportantly Guterson uses nature to convey substantial and symbolic meaning inthe lives of the char acters in his stories.One of the elements of nature that Guterson uses as a tool to developthe conflicts in Snow Falling on Cedars are the strawberry palm on the island.These fields represent an important ascendent of income for the community.Traditionally the Japanese laborers worked the fields and the white Americansowned the fields. The question of the ownership of seven acres of strawberryfields serves as the apparent motive for the murder of Carl Heine. To a localJapanese fisherman, Kabuo (accused of murdering Carl Heine), the ownership ofthis land promises a secure future and ultimately independence. ...she knewthat Kabuo wanted a strawberry field.. nothing more than that (Snow Falling 89).His dream...was close to him now, his strawberry land, his happiness (SnowFalling 456). The strawberry fields connected Kabuo to his past and symbolizeda continuity of life. My father planted the fathers of these (strawberry)plants (Snow Falling 362).Guterson also uses snow metaphorically to make the ownership of thestrawberry fields disappear and seem unimportant in life (Snow covering thefields permitted the reader to veiw the ownership of the fields as a verymaterialistic and selfish thing). After the snow has fallen it acts as apurifier to a... ...nd. The snowchanges in these scenes in the story as Gutersontells......................................................................Snow is also one of the elements that can also be traced throughGutersons earlier works. In Angels in the Snow Guterson uses snow in thevery equivalent way that he uses snow as a metaphor in his novel. Angels in the Snowis a short story about the struggle for a man to maintain a truthful marriagewith his wife. In this story the snow that falls on Christmas eve symbolizesthe falling apart of his marriage collectable to unsurpassable problems. Outside thewindow a light snow blew down... in the yard the grass looked sprinkled withpowder(Angels 3). Guterson weaves a tale about moralistic troubles that beganin a young mans fragile past. Outside, the snow covered the last of the lawn.The world looked hushed, delicate and beautiful. ( Angels 7) This passagedescribes the delicate remembrances of the protagonists youthful days. Andthen, outside the falling snowflakes looked larger...a low social movement was forming...( Angels 12). This statement is offered as Gutersons main character begins toconfront his past conflicts.