Snow/Blues/Typicaldiscussion Guide

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Snow/Blues/TypicalDiscussion Guide

Snow Falling on Cedars:

1. How does this novel challenge the reader to reconsider what an American might be today? What does this novel seem to say about the meaning—or making—of American identity? What does the novel say about the meaning—or making—of ethnic identity?

2. Snow Falling on Cedars opens in the middle of Kabuo Miyamoto’s trial but it is many pages before we learn the crime of which he has been accused or the nature of the evidence against him. What effect does the author create by withholding this information and introducing it in the form of flashbacks? Where else in the narrative are critical revelations postponed? How is this novel’s past related to its fictional present?

3. The trial functions both as this novel’s narrative frame and as its governing metaphor. As we follow it, we are compelled to ask larger questions about the nature of truth, guilt, and responsibility. What are some of these questions? How does Guterson address them? Which characters are aware that what is at stake is more than one man’s guilt but an entire nation’s guilt?

4. When the trial begins, San Piedro is in the midst of a snowstorm, which continues throughout its course. What role does snow play—both literally and metaphorically/symbolically—in the book? Pay particular attention to the way in which snow blurs, freezes, isolates, and immobilizes, even as it holds out the promise of an “impossible winter purity” (8). What role does Nature (its existence and its use) play in this novel—specifically, is it a place of tolerance or isolation or both? Explain.

5. When Carl’s body is dredged from the water, the sheriff has to remind himself that what he is seeing is a human being. While performing the autopsy, however, Horace Whaley forces himself to think of Carl as “the deceased…a bag of guts, a sack of parts” (54). Where else in Snow Falling on Cedars are people depersonalized—detached from their identities—either deliberately or inadvertently? What role does depersonalization play within the novel’s larger themes?

6. Racism is a persistent theme in this novel. It is responsible for the internment of Kabuo, Hatsue, and their families, for Kabuo’s loss of his land, and perhaps for his indictment for murder. In what ways do the book’s Japanese characters respond to the hostility of their white neighbors? How does bigotry manifest itself in the thoughts and behavior of characters like Etta Heine—whose racism is keenly ironic in view of her German origins—Art Moran, and Ishmael himself? Are we meant to see these characters as typical of their place and time?

7. The Japanese internment camps are a part of our nation’s history that Americans either ignore or evade, seeming to choose instead to focus on the Holocaust and the German concentration camps in Auschwitz and other places. Why do you suppose this is? Why do you suppose Guterson brings this buried history (some may say American embarrassment) to the forefront of his novel? Is it somehow safer to do so when this book was published in 1995? Does he have a further agenda than just American absolution and education? Explain.

8. What are Guterson’s expressed feelings about the themes of power and justice in the novel? Explain.

9. This is our third subaltern novel for the summer (Things Fall Apart and your third book). What similar themes does this novel share with Things Fall Apart?

Reservation Blues:

1. How does this novel challenge the reader to reconsider what an American might be today? What does this novel seem to say about the meaning—or making—of American identity? What does the novel say about the meaning—or making—of ethnic identity?

2. The songs that appear at the beginning of the chapters set the tone and identify the content and major themes not only in the chapter but also in the novel as a whole. What are some of these themes and what is the tone of the novel overall? Be specific.

3. What is the attitude of the Indians toward the Indian Health Service, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Bureau of Indian Affairs? Are their attitudes toward these government agencies tied to their attitudes toward the white man? Explain.

4. Storytelling, dreams, and mythicism/magical realism are traditionally an important part of Indian history and culture. According to Alexie, how is story-telling looked upon in modern times on the reservation? What role do stories, dreams, and myths play in this novel? Give specific examples and explain.

5. Often in the novel we are molested by the images of horse being shot and of horses screaming. What do these images mean, both symbolically and historically?

6. Alexie uses names in this novel as representative of certain ideas and/or historical markers. Some of these include but are not limited to Betty, Veronica, Sheridan, Wright, and Armstrong. What do you think Alexie is doing here? Are they meant to be facetious or a comment on Native American history and relations with the white man? Explain.

7. How does the novel use the characters of Betty and Veronica and Chess and Checkers to develop the themes of gender issues and interracial relationships? Explain. Now, how does Alexie specifically draw a parallel between the historical and social experiences of blacks and Native Americans? Why?

8. The Spokane Indians react adversely and severely to Coyote Springs, and even more severely to any success they may experience. Why do you think this is?

9. What are Alexie’s expressed feelings about the themes of power and justice in the novel? Explain with examples.

10. This is our third subaltern novel for the summer (Things Fall Apart and your third book). What similar themes does this novel share with Things Fall Apart?

Typical American:

1. How does this novel challenge the reader to reconsider what an American might be today? What does this novel seem to say about the meaning—or making—of American identity? What does the novel say about the meaning—or making—of ethnic identity?

2. The book opens with the statement “It’s an American story,” which helps to set the tone and identify the content and major themes not only in the chapter but also in the novel as a whole. What are some of these themes and what is the tone of the novel overall? Be specific.

3. The novel concludes with Ralph stating, “A man was the sum of his limits. Freedom only made him see how much so. America was no America.’’ What do you think this means?

4. What is the attitude of the Chinese toward the Americans? The Americans toward the Chinese? Are their attitudes toward each otherpolitically, culturally, or morally based? Explain.

5. Take some time to think about the narration/POV of this book. It appears we have a third-person narrator—perhaps…? At times, it seems as though we are listening to a story (or stories) told by the characters themselves. How does this affect our reading of the novel? Our attitude toward the characters? Our acceptance of the (inevitable) outcome? Think, too, about the construction of the story. Why five parts? Why these parts? Where do the story’s divisions occur, and why?

6. House, home, household—these are prominent architectural and even interpersonal motifs in the novel. What do homes, or houses, or households mean to the various characters? How do houses help to organize (or stifle) characters’ feelings?

7. Faith, self-actualization, ‘imagineering’—what is the novel’s attitude toward these activities? What is (to quote the title of a book given to Ralph) ‘the power of positive thinking’ in this novel?

8. What is the role of humor AND how does it function in this text?

9. This is our third subaltern novel for the summer (Things Fall Apart and your third book). What similar themes does this novel share with Things Fall Apart?

10. What are Jen’s expressed feelings about the themes of power in this novel? Where does the power lie?