The story takes place in the 1950's on San Pedro island off the coast of Washington. The story begins in a courtroom on December 6, 1954, the day before the anniversary of Pearl Harbor but flashes through different time periods and is told mostly through Ishmael Chambers, the newspaper reporter. Kabuo Miyamoto is a Japanese-American accused of killing fellow fisherman Carl Heine. There is a snowstorm outside and most of the members of the small town are attending the hearing. Carl was found dead caught in the net of his boat and the police officers suspect someone killed him and are quick to place the blame on Kabuo. The story flashes back to before World War II and talks about how the residents of the island came without money and they grew strawberries for a living. To try to decrease prejudice every year a Japanese girl would be named princess of the strawberry festival until in 1942 when all the Japanese Americans we forced to go to internment camps. The story flashes back to the courtroom again where Hatsue is thinking about how she Kabuo met in an internment camp and then married. Then Ishmael is thinking about his childhood when he and Hatsue used to talk and kiss but now she will not speak to him. Then Carl's mother, Etta, takes the stand and talks about how Kabou's father used to pay Etta's husband money to use his land since a person of Japanese descent could not own land. Kabou's family is sent away to internment camps before they can make their final payment to own the land. Etta sold the land to Ole Jurgenson when her husband died. When Kabuo returns from war he wants to pay the final payment for the land but he is too late. Later when he learns Ole has put the farm back up for sale Kabou wants to buy it but Carl has already repurchased the land. The story then goes back and forth with evidence, some that proves Kabuo guilty and some that proves him innocent. The storm outside has caused the electricity to go out in the courtroom and causes a break in the trial. While Ishmael is driving around taking pictures to document the storm he sees his old love Hatsue and offers her a ride. She tells him that her husbands trial is not fair and he should write an article about it in his newspaper. After dropping her off Ismael goes to the lighthouse coast guard station and finds out what happened to Carl. It was foggy and a large freighter had come through and made waves that were big enough to push him overboard. Ishmael writes a story about it hoping to please Hatsue but also not wanting to write it because many of the islanders do not like the Japanese and he does not want to be on there bad side. Eventually the truth comes out and Kabuo is set free.
1. Do you think that people today are still prejudiced? Are there any examples you can think of that show how a person's ethnicity, gender, social status, etc. possibly changed the outcome of their courtcase?
2. Many of the characters in this novel are changed by what they have seen while fighting in the war. How do you think you would react if you were to fight in a war or have you seen the impact of fighting in a war directly?
7 comments:
2) Many soldiers come back with a lot of problems after the war, and post dramatic stress disorder is one of the most common. Soldiers are unable to sleep and relive these horrific events over and over in their dreams. I personally don't think that I would be able to handle going to war. Seeing people die in movies is bad enough. I would definitely not be able to kill someone even if they are an enemy. That person has a family and friends, possibly even children. I would be scarred for life.
I agree with you when you say that you could not kill people even if they are the enemy. Everyine has family and friends that would miss them and I think do not know if I could kill them even knowing that they are the enemy.
I think certain people are subconsciously prejudice and you definitely see it more with older people that they are prejiduce based on race. I think if there are people that are prejudice on a jury they may see the defendant and automatically decide that they are guilty and it would make the person unable to have a fair trial, which isnt fair to that person.
I agree with you too Emily. Sometimes people may say they are not prejudiced but every once and a while they might say something that really is prejudiced without realizing what they had said.
I think that people today are still prejudiced, even now. It seems that some people look down on those with a lower social status if they are on welfare. A lot of people may prejudice against them because they think that they are a drain on society, so not much has changed from the past.
To answer the first question, I agree with Betsy. I believe that people are very much so still prejudiced in today's society; however, I do believe that it has made some improvement. I think that nowadays, it is a more subconscious effort as opposed to an intentional effort to alienate a particular race or gender. Like Betsy said, people in today's society often view the lower class as incapable of doing any good for the society; we outcast them and sometimes do not provide them with the help that they need to fully improve their lives. To answer the second question, I do not think that I would be able to fight in a war; however if I did, I would definitely be mentally, if not physically, affected by it for the remainder of my life. I would not be able to erase the images or the feelings that were evoked during the war. I would be forever scarred.
1. I agree with Kristen and Betsy that people today are still prejudiced, but it is better today than it was in the past years. People that were black in the past did not get fair court cases and a lot of the times were guilty just because of their skin color. Many of times they were not even given a chance for a court hearing. Also, people that are poor and looked down upon. Many people feel like they are incapable of doing anything for themselves.
2.I would react in many different ways if I was to fight in a war. I would be very sad and depressed seeing people die all the time. It would give me a worry too that I could be those people too at anytime. I would be scared that I would die and leave my family to morn. I have seen impacts on people who have fought in the war directly. My friend is in the Marines and he is unable to see his wife all the time and must leave her often to fight. This has hurt their relatinship, and they became saddened to not see each other a lot.
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