The novel starts in the seventies with Naomi a teacher in .
Northern Alberta finding out that her uncle has died. When Naomi returns .
home to console her Aunt Obasan, she begins to relive the difficulties of .
her life. She recounts the struggle against the government and .
themselves while trying to stay in Vancouver. Naomi is very small at the .
time of the war and did not really fully understand what was happening to .
her race. The novel recounts the struggle of Naomi's Aunt Emily to .
ensure that her family would be together in whatever place they were sent .
to. Aunt Emily wanted to head east to Toronto, but was unable to get the .
documentation for the entire family which included her sister children, .
who she was taking care of. The novel discuses the camps that the .
Japanese families were sent to in Hastings Park during the war. It .
described the treatment the families received while there, including the .
lack of food and the smell of manure. Naomi during this time was being .
sexually molested by her next door neighbor and did not tell anybody .
about this. Naomi seems resentful during the novel, as she comes across .
as a quiet little girl, who does not seem to interact with many people. .
Aunt Emily finally finds a place in Slocan for the family to go live, but .
just before they leave finds out her and her immediate family could go to .
Toronto. This leaves Aunt Emily going to Toronto and everybody else .
moving to Toronto. In the end almost everybody ends up dying.
The novel had many strengths and weaknesses. One strength that .
really got to me is the great detail in how the Japanese were treated, .
though they were Canadian citizens. Obasan also taught me a lot about .
the Japanese culture and background. I enjoyed learning that it was .
custom to take a bath with your family when you were younger. I also .
learned that the government took away the vehicles of the Japanese and .
auctioned them off, which really shocked me.
Naomi says that "the language of her (Obasan's) grief is silence. ... (Kogawa 14) Naomi never gets access to Obasan's minds and thoughts. ... In fact, Naomi realizes Obasan's evasion is a protective silence. ... (Kogawa 22) Under Obasan's guidance, Naomi is extremely quiet in her childhood. ... She follows Obasan's silence in her childhood. ...
In the novel Obasan, written by Joy Kogawa, an important event occurred that changed the lives of many Japanese Canadians during World War II. ... The excuse Canada had for this action was that "Japanese people were not white and could be Japanese 'spies'".2 In the novel Obasan, one of the letters from Aunt Emily says "we're a 'lower order of people'. ... In Obasan, Aunt Emily states "we're hit so many ways at one time that if I wasn't past feeling, I think I would crumble.... Obasan greatly encases these ideas and demonstrates the unjus...
Paper- Obasan This is a story of silence. ... Ever since Naomi was five, Obasan, their aunt, raised her and her brother Stephen. ... Naomi is always stuck between the two aunts of Obasan and Emily. ... Naomi does agree however with certain aspects of Obasan's being. ... "Obasan and Uncle have been the mainstay of Naomi's traumatic childhood- (Goettliev, 36). ...
Personal Journal After reading the novel, Obasan, I step out a mile for understanding the disadvantages about being go to war. For my opinion, "War" doesn"t earn any benefits. It hurts people's souls, destroys the friendship between different nations and break down the whole world ec...
In the novel Obasan, the protagonist goes through a dream sequence. There are three dreams that she experiences that are inter-realated. The dreams have a relationship between the loss of her parents, and the fears about the war that is taking place while the story is being told. This essay will ...
The poem "Day of the Bride- was written by Joy Kogawa, who is an award-winning Japanese Canadian author who often integrates ideas of culture and identity into her writing. The poem is heavily laden with historical Japanese imagery, culture and tradition. The author makes several references to eth...
--Obasan The educational value through this novel is not necessarily what the characters perceptions or even if school is mentioned in the story, but the significance is that the readers can relate to this novel through the character, the language, the proverbs and learning about Japanese-Canadian history, which is a lesson in itself. ... The historical setting is faithfully portrayed and gives the reader a clear sense of what it was like to live in that time period, such as wearing a nemaki "a nightie or Obasan making lots of sticky onigiri rice balls. ...
