LOSS Snow Falling on Cedars “The trick was to live here without hating yourself because all around you was hatred. The trick was to refuse to allow your pain to prevent you from living honourably (p.175).

TASK You are the author of Snow Falling on Cedars speaking at a festival about positive psychology, accounting for the pertinence of the novel to this outlook. By close reference, illustration and commentary, explain how the experiences of and reactions to loss by a major and minor character of the ideas below 1. affect a character’s psyche, ideological outlook and behaviour and 2. demonstrate the applicability of positive psychology ie. how loss affects a character’s way of thinking and behaviour ie. how a character applies positive psychology having experienced loss

WHAT IS POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY? When life is barren and meaningless, positive subjective experience, positive individual traits and positive institutions can improve your quality of life. What are the qualities of positive psychology? Factors that enable us to flourish: Hope, wisdom, creativity, future mindedness, courage, spirituality, responsibility, perseverance, self-regulation, optimism From the sentence outline: Acceptance, self-autonomy, growth of self, self-perception, endurance, meaning making

CHARACTERS TO CHOOSE FROM Major characters Ishmael Kabuo Fujiko Hatsue Minor characters Nels Helen Carl Jnr Etta

WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE? Through a spoken presentation at a festival about positive psychology, you are trying to show how the characters you created in your novel Snow Falling on Cedars do the following:  Accept one’s situation and persevere  Develop resilience by being truthful to their inner philosophies and not succumb to despair  Constructively deal with loss  Do not deal with loss in an effective manner and are defined by it or made introspective by it

LOSS CAN BE DEFINED AS: Damage or disadvantage from failure to keep, have or get Coming to be without something that one has had The accidental losing of something by defeat, or by failure to win You are answering the question of how loss affects a character’s psyche, their ideological outlook and behaviour

DEFINITIONS Pysche (the human soul, spirit, or mind) Behaviour (appearance, actions ad interactions) Ideological outlook (values, attitudes, positive psychology) a major influence on a person’s ideology is childhood experiences These experiences illustrate that loss affects people differently

EXAMPLES FROM THE NOVEL A character shattered by loss (Ishmael) A character supported in loss (Fujiko and Helen) A character made introspective by loss due to murders at war, loss of personal freedom and loss of seven acres (Kabuo) A character defined by loss (Etta, Hatsue, Nels)

HOW TO LINK TO POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Guterson’s construction of characters’ distinct experiences of and reactions to loss points to how people can be trapped, silent and suffering, by loss. But, in some cases, loss is a temporary condition which can lead to the transformation or restoration of a person into a greater wholeness. How characters consider acceptance, self-autonomy, growth of self, self-perception, endurance or meaning making can determine their ability to move forward.