Loss as it is thematically portrayed in this novel by David Guterson is analyzed in five pages. There are no other sources listed.
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in the early 1950s on San Piedro Island, which is one of the small islands located in Puget Sound. Memories of World War II and the internment of Japanese-descended residents
of the island are still very fresh, and also involve a sense of loss. Guterson expertly weaves these elements into a poignant and moving story that shows how issues of
loss serve to shape the lives of the people on the island. Kabuo Miyamoto is the man on trial. He is accused of murdering Carl Heine, Ironically, Kabuo and
Carl were childhood friends. Kabuo lost that friendship, along with his trust for the white community, when his family was interred for the duration of World War II simply because
of their heritage. Prior to the beginning of the war, Kabuos father entered into a land deal with Carl Heine, Sr., in which Kabuos father agreed to purchase seven acres
of a strawberry field that he farmed for Heine Sr. He was one payment away from owning that land when the government forcibly interred all Americans of Japanese descent.
When Carl Sr. died, his widow returned the money that had been paid for the land to Kabuos family and sold the land to a third party. When Kabuo
heard that Carl Jr. was going to reacquire his familys farm, he went to Carl Jr. to try to negotiate for the purchase of he seven acres that he felt,
in his heart, were rightfully his. Carl Jr. refused and soon he was dead. This is why suspicion fell on Kabuo when the body was discovered. As the novel opens
Kabuo has lost the land he hoped to purchase, and his freedom, as the lingering racism on the island finds a focus through this trial. One of the observers