Pride And Figurative Language In Joy Kogawa's Obasan

During the Second World War, many of those who came from Japanese descent were restricted from many freedoms that many others of different races had. Due to such a confinement, many felt conflicting attitudes in relation to such appalling events. Most notably seen in an excerpt from Joy Kogawa’s Obasan, through the author’s use of changes in point of view and figurative language, the complex attitude of pride, yet shame in the Japanese culture is revealed.
The first section of this text reveals an interesting perspective through the use of first person plural point of view. In combination of such a unique point of view, repetition, and the use of a myriad of metaphors, Kogawa expresses the dull, repetitive events that is now known as the life

Despite the emphasis on the contrastingly different descriptions of many individuals in the group, “the scholarly and the illiterate, the envied and the ugly, the fierce and the docile,” the Japanese Canadians were often thought of as one large stereotype, rather than individual beings. It made no

As the narrative shifts to memories of a young child, the accounts of the Japanese culture are more vividly detailed. The narrator can recollect the very specific details of her life; for example, she can remember how she was wearing “a wine-colored dirndl skirt with straps that criss cross at the back” during this one specific account. Throughout this journey, the narrator is surrounded by complete strangers; however, their fates are all the same, as “not [one] on this journey returns home again.” Despite such a depressing time period in the lives of many of the Japanese, the Japanese mannerism of respect still remains, as the narrator refers to strangers as “ojisan” or “obasan”. This honorary title for even strangers shows the respect that the Japanese have for one another and even the pride they still withhold for their culture, even in a time of