Atmosphere through detailed language in Snow Falling On Cedars Snow Falling On Cedars, by David Guterson, is an emotional story. The death of a fisherman, Carl Heine, on the island of San Piedro turns into a murder trial for Japanese American Kabuo Miyamoto. A childhood interracial romance between Ishmael Chambers and Hatsue Miyamoto also moves back and forth in time, and the story of World War II Japanese internment plays out as part of the romance. David Guterson sets the mood in the opening chapters through detailed language. The story is set on a Pacific island where the society is very small and the fishing community is very important to the islanders. Guterson uses sea, weather, and landscape to describe many features in the opening chapters; this creates connections between the setting and the story. The use of flashbacks creates an interesting aspect of the novel. Guterson presents the characters in highly detailed portraits; this allows the reader to have a clear identity of each. Tension is created in the courtroom through the language of prejudice and Guterson creates an evocative atmosphere throughout the courtroom scenes. Kabuo Miyamoto is portrayed as a criminal from the start of the murder trial; already the reader has the impression that he is guilty of the murder of Carl Heine. “….his immobility suggested a disdain for the proceedings,” this shows how Kabuo has a dislike for the trial and creates a static atmosphere for the trial ahead. Kabuo also shows that he has no respect for the court as, "...he sat proudly upright with a stiff grace", and does not acknowledge anything of what was going on, "...he didn't seem moved at all". Through the detailed description of the opening courtroom scene we can see that the atmosphere is very tense and creates a feeling of suffocation: "It was a place of gray and desolate simplicity." Kabuo Miyamoto presents himself to the reader as a sensitive individual who is facing this murder trial calmly. David Guterson shows that Kabuo was depressed while "he had been banished to the county jail for seventy-seven days - the latter part of September, all of October and all of November, the first week of December", here Guterson lengthens the description of how long he was in prison and creates a sense of boredom in Kabuo. The descriptions of the weather and the sea that Guterson uses to represent and describe many scenes are essential as they represent the lifestyle of San Piedro.