Chapter 14 chronicles the turning point in Hatsue's life. After her father is arrested, Hatsue and her mother have an important conversation. Hatsue doesn't know the extent of her mother's knowledge, but clearly Hatsue's attempts to conceal her relationship with Ishmael during the past four years haven't been entirely successful.
Hatsue benefits from the wisdom of her mother. Even as Hatsue speaks out, contradicting what her mother says to her, Hatsue knows that her mother is a living example of how a Japanese woman is expected to live. Fujiko verbalizes a major difference between Japanese and American cultures. This difference deals with the notion and understanding of the ego. Fujiko believes, as do many Japanese, that the individual is a significant part of a greater whole, and therefore, emphasis is not placed on any one person. In contrast, many Americans believe that their individuality — what separates them from all others — is essential to their understanding of self.
Fujiko is a positive, maternal role model in Snow Falling on Cedars. Same-sex parental role models play an important part in character development. Kabuo and Ishmael each had a father whose examples and attitudes they could follow as they matured, and although Hatsue learned from Mrs. Shigemura the ways of the Japanese culture, Hatsue learned how to be a Japanese woman from her mother.
Hatsue is understandably torn between two worlds — "her instincts did not make the kinds of distinctions having Japanese blood demanded" — but the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor is forcing Hatsue to decide who she is. When she verbalizes her reaction, her mother demonstrates through actions and words that sometimes it is better not to speak — a connection Hatsue immediately makes to the silence she has been keeping about her romance.
