Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson, is an emotional story about the life of a man who could not move on and a woman who could. The man, Ishmael, is hopelessly in love with the woman, Hatsue. Ishmael holds on to Hatsue even after he gains the knowledge that it is extremely improbable that he can ever be with her. Why can not they be together? It is racism and cultural differences which doom …showed first 75 words of 1346 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1346 total…young. Once either one becomes mature enough to realize this, their relationship is doomed. Has Ishmael realized his love is not true love, he will have had to move away from Hatsue. They are wrong from the start. The best they can have hoped for is friendship, which sadly they can not achieve because Ishmael does not see deeply inside their relationship like Hatsue does. He can not see the differences between him and Hatsue.