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Snow Falling on Cedars reads like a map of prejudice, clearly showing the fault lines between groups and individuals. The novel raises the question of whether or not "the oceans of the world" are ultimately separate or together, but stops short ofgiving a direct answer to this question. Gutterson choses to illustrate both sides of the prejudice on San Piedro, by showing the white's resentment and fear of the Japanese immigrants despite the fact that they they reap economic profits from the Japanese-American residents’ discipline and hard work. Yet the Japanese-Americans are not simply victims; in some ways, they choose to maintain their separateness, partly out of a sense of superiority. With these two examples of social division, it may appear that the novel offers no hope for solving the problem but this is far from the truth. Through Ishmael;s willingness to overcome his deep-rooted prejudice at the end of the novel, Gutterson offers a healing vision of society and shows that people can change, and often times, that change can make a huge difference in other people;s lives. The novel does not answer the ;oceans; question completely; instead, it offers an image of San Piedro Island and leaves the question open to the reader;s interpretation.
The Europeans on San Piedro Island are intolerant of their Japanese neighbors in a variety of ways. Even simple every-day activities are plagued by prejudice. Within the courtroom, a place symbolic of the freedom and equality that America has come to represent, the Japanese people sit in the very back. ;No law compelled them to take only these rear seats. They had done so instead because San Piedro required it of them without calling it a law.; Even the government takes part in discrimination, by enacting two laws. One cannot own land if he is not an American citizen, and one cannot become a citizen if he does not own land. The irony within t…