Summary Of Obasan Joy Kogawa

Each family has their own structure and forms of expressing their thoughts and feelings, often related to the family’s background. Asian cultures often believe that certain matters are dealt with by adults or should not be discussed altogether. Often it is the adult’s job to keep certain pressures off their children, but if they are not careful, the weight can crush them. In the novel Obasan Joy Kogawa tells the story of a Japanese-Canadian woman, Naomi Nakane. Naomi is forced to live in an internment camp as a child during World War II with her brother Stephen, her Aunt Aya, or obasan, and her Uncle Isamu. Both of her guardians attempt to make the best of their situation and protect the children from sorrow. However, the Nakane family’s lifestyle

Naomi finds herself unable to speak to her mother, Nesan, as a child about the sexual assault she is a victim of, which puts Nesan “on one side of a rift” and Naomi “on the other” (Kogawa 77). Naomi’s silence is representative of how the Canadian government acted as Naomi’s assailant did: “A man going out in public and presenting a public face of decency when privately there is atrocity” (Clayton). Kogawa comments on how citizens could have protested in the same way as Naomi’s Aunt Emily, who pushes back against the Canadian government so the family “could all stay together” (Kogawa 109). Instead, citizens attempted to show their loyalty by accepting the government’s conditions. Naomi’s obasan is one of those who accepts their grim situation and works to conceal their drab living conditions for the children. However, Aya’s attempts to cover up the house’s dejected color of grey with “an oilcloth with a bold orange design and tiny daisies and blue flowers” are futile, since Stephen remains focused on how “brambles and vines are clinging to his pant leg” (Kogawa 145). Aya’s attempt to create a brighter environment cannot assuage Stephen. His negativity consumes him to the point of physical and mental injury, as he walks around with a limp, “cracked and surly” (Kogawa 136). Obasan’s endeavours exemplify how it is possible to create the illusion of peace to the outside world despite underlying discrimination. Kogawa uses Naomi’s near-drowning experience to say that Japanese-Canadian citizens “must leap” as Naomi does (Kogawa 175). Naomi’s struggle in the water leads to enlightenment, as she comes to realize that Kenji “will tell no one” that she is drowning (Kogawa 175). Kenji could have easily saved Naomi by informing an adult, just as the white Canadian population should have stood up for the Japanese-Canadian