Snow Falling on Cedars Truth Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

Through all of it Hatsue had struggled with the temptation to reveal the truth to her sisters and school friends, because the truth was a burden to carry in silence and she felt the need, like most young girls, to speak about love with other girls. But she never did. (14.62)

Like Ishmael, Hatsue kept the truth about their relationship a secret. Her inability to share this key detail of her life weighed her down, making her feel dishonest and isolating her from others.

Quote #5

"Write your own letter," she said in Japanese. "Tell him the truth about things. Put all of this in your history. Tell him the truth so you can move forward. Put this hakujin boy away now." (15.72)

This is Fujiko talking to Hatsue, who has just assured her mother that she doesn't love Ishmael. In order for Hatsue to get the relationship behind her, Fujiko is recommending that she let Ishmael know the truth—ASAP.

Quote #6

They were as good as lost forever, it seemed to Ishmael, and no one knew the truth of the matter: that on the night Carl Heine had drowned, stopping his watch at 1:47, a freighter plowed through Ship Channel Bank at 1:42—just five minutes earlier—no doubt throwing before it a wall of water big enough to founder a small gill-netting boat and toss even a big man overboard. Or rather one person, he himself, knew the truth. That was the heart of it. (23.56)

Ishmael has just found the evidence that Carl Heine likely wasn't murdered at all, and he's kind of power tripping on the fact that, had it not been for him, the information might never have been discovered. Also, he's trying to figure out what to do with the intel. Ishmael doesn't actually seem too keen on the prospect of the truth getting Kabuo sprung, since he wants to snuggle up to Hatsue.