Snow Falling on Cedars Lesson Plan

Discuss Kabuo's testimony and his version of what happened that night.

When Kabuo takes the stand to tell the truth of the story, he offers an account of resolution to the conflict Etta had incited by selling the seven acres in question. He explains that Carl's engine had died and that Carl had been "dead in the water," an expression that echoes ominously against the knowledge of Carl's subsequent drowning.

After Kabuo had offered him one of his engines, a D-6, Carl had forced the engine to fit, in an action which symbolizes something of Carl's own psychology: he had forced Kabuo to fit into his life in such a way that the two of them could function in harmony. In his...