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Motifs
Definition of Paradox
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar Wilde's famous declaration that "Life is... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel... read full definition
Key Examples in Snow Falling on Cedars
Chapter 14
Explanation and Analysis—Of This Place:
After the FBI arrests Hatsue’s father, Fujiko tries to prepare her daughters for the inevitability of their exclusion from White American culture. The narrator uses paradox and metaphor in this passage to show the conflict between Hatsue’s desire to belong in America and the racial rejection Fujiko knows she will face:
Her mother seemed to know about the gulf that separated how she lived from what she was. And what was she anyway? She was of this place and she was not of this place, and though she might desire to be an American it was clear, as her mother said, that she had the face of America’s enemy and would always have such a face. She would never feel at home here among the hakujin, and at the same time she loved the woods and fields of home as dearly as anyone could.
Related Themes:
Chapter 31
Explanation and Analysis—Roared Steadily:
Guterson uses auditory imagery and a paradox in this passage to show that Ishmael feels left behind by time and overwhelmed by the quiet of the snowy world:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Ishmael sat inside for a brief time with his coat wrapped tightly around him. He listened to the world turned silent by the snow; there was absolutely nothing to hear. The silence of the world roared steadily in his ears while he came to recognize that he did not belong here [...] Some much younger people should find this tree, hold to it tightly as their deepest secret, as he and Hatsue had. For them it might stave off what he could not help but see with clarity: that the world was silent and cold and bare and that in this lay its terrible beauty.
Related Themes:
