Snow Falling on Cedars

by

David Guterson

Carl Heine, Jr. Character Analysis

The fisherman around whose murder trial the novel is centered. Carl Heine was friends with Kabuo Miyamoto, the accused, in childhood. The two grew distant after the war, due to Carl’s Mother, Etta’s, bigotry toward people of Japanese descent, but also because of Carl’s personal prejudices. Carl was WWII veteran and, like his mother, harbors prejudices against people of Japanese descent. Before Carl’s death, Kabuo approached the man, wanting to buy back his family’s land. Carl seemed to want to do the right thing and sell the land to Kabuo, but his prejudices initially held him back. When he was alive, Carl often struggled with expressing himself, and Kabuo feels he and Carl were very much alike in this respect. The reader ultimately discovers that Carl wasn’t murdered, but, rather, was tragically thrown from his ship and drowned in a most unlikely accident.

Carl Heine, Jr. Quotes in Snow Falling on Cedars

The Snow Falling on Cedars quotes below are all either spoken by Carl Heine, Jr. or refer to Carl Heine, Jr.. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Racism and Prejudice Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

All in all, Art decided, Carl Heine was a good man. He was silent, yes, and grave like his mother, but the war had a part in that, Art realized. Carl rarely laughed, but he did not seem, to Art’s way of thinking, unhappy or dissatisfied.

Related Characters: Kabuo Miyamoto, Carl Heine, Jr., Art Moran
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

Thus on San Piedro the silent-toiling, autonomous gill-netter became the collective image of the good man. He who was too gregarious, who spoke too much and too ardently desired the company of others, their conversation and their laughter, did not have what life required.

Related Characters: Kabuo Miyamoto, Carl Heine, Jr., Art Moran
Page Number: 38-39
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

Carl Heine’s dark struggle, his effort to hold his breath, the volume of water that had filled the vacuum of his gut, his profound unconsciousness and final convulsions, his terminal gasps in the grip of death as the last of the air leaked out of him and his heart halted and his brain ceased to consider anything—they were all recorded, or not recorded, in the slab of flesh that lay on Horace Whaley’s examination table. It was his duty to find out the truth.

Related Characters: Carl Heine, Jr., Horace Whaley
Page Number: 55
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

Sitting where he sat now, accused of the murder of Carl Heine, it seemed to him he’d found the suffering place he’d fantasized and desired. For Kabuo Miyamoto was suffering in his cell from the fear of his imminent judgment. Perhaps it was now his fate to pay for the lives he had taken in anger.

Related Characters: Kabuo Miyamoto, Carl Heine, Jr.
Page Number: 169
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

Art Moran looked into the Jap’s eyes to see if he could discern the truth there. But they were hard eyes set in a proud, still face, and there was nothing to be read in them either way. They were the eyes of a man with concealed emotions, the eyes of a man hiding something. “You’re under arrest,” repeated Art Moran, “in connection with the death of Carl Heine.”

Related Characters: Art Moran (speaker), Kabuo Miyamoto, Carl Heine, Jr.
Page Number: 269
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

“I’m an American,” Kabuo cut in. “Just like you or anybody. Am I calling you a Nazi, you big Nazi bastard? I killed men who looked just like you—pig-fed German bastards. I’ve got blood on my soul, Carl, and it doesn’t wash off very easily. So don’t you talk to me about Japs, you big Nazi son of a bitch.”

Related Characters: Kabuo Miyamoto (speaker), Carl Heine, Jr.
Page Number: 404
Explanation and Analysis:
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Carl Heine, Jr. Quotes in Snow Falling on Cedars

The Snow Falling on Cedars quotes below are all either spoken by Carl Heine, Jr. or refer to Carl Heine, Jr.. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Racism and Prejudice Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

All in all, Art decided, Carl Heine was a good man. He was silent, yes, and grave like his mother, but the war had a part in that, Art realized. Carl rarely laughed, but he did not seem, to Art’s way of thinking, unhappy or dissatisfied.

Related Characters: Kabuo Miyamoto, Carl Heine, Jr., Art Moran
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

Thus on San Piedro the silent-toiling, autonomous gill-netter became the collective image of the good man. He who was too gregarious, who spoke too much and too ardently desired the company of others, their conversation and their laughter, did not have what life required.

Related Characters: Kabuo Miyamoto, Carl Heine, Jr., Art Moran
Page Number: 38-39
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

Carl Heine’s dark struggle, his effort to hold his breath, the volume of water that had filled the vacuum of his gut, his profound unconsciousness and final convulsions, his terminal gasps in the grip of death as the last of the air leaked out of him and his heart halted and his brain ceased to consider anything—they were all recorded, or not recorded, in the slab of flesh that lay on Horace Whaley’s examination table. It was his duty to find out the truth.

Related Characters: Carl Heine, Jr., Horace Whaley
Page Number: 55
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

Sitting where he sat now, accused of the murder of Carl Heine, it seemed to him he’d found the suffering place he’d fantasized and desired. For Kabuo Miyamoto was suffering in his cell from the fear of his imminent judgment. Perhaps it was now his fate to pay for the lives he had taken in anger.

Related Characters: Kabuo Miyamoto, Carl Heine, Jr.
Page Number: 169
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

Art Moran looked into the Jap’s eyes to see if he could discern the truth there. But they were hard eyes set in a proud, still face, and there was nothing to be read in them either way. They were the eyes of a man with concealed emotions, the eyes of a man hiding something. “You’re under arrest,” repeated Art Moran, “in connection with the death of Carl Heine.”

Related Characters: Art Moran (speaker), Kabuo Miyamoto, Carl Heine, Jr.
Page Number: 269
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

“I’m an American,” Kabuo cut in. “Just like you or anybody. Am I calling you a Nazi, you big Nazi bastard? I killed men who looked just like you—pig-fed German bastards. I’ve got blood on my soul, Carl, and it doesn’t wash off very easily. So don’t you talk to me about Japs, you big Nazi son of a bitch.”

Related Characters: Kabuo Miyamoto (speaker), Carl Heine, Jr.
Page Number: 404
Explanation and Analysis: