Obasan By Joy Kogawa Analysis

This story is mostly about a ten year old girl named Opal. she wants friends because she is new in Naomi, Florida. She also wants her mama, who left her when Opal was only 3 years old. In the book, Opal learned that she can’t hold onto something that wants to go.

Even when her husband passes away, she does not break down into hysteria; she grieves quietly: “The language of her grief is silence... Over the years, silence within her small body has grown large and powerful” (Kogawa, 14). Despite her lack of words, Obasan is a source of love and steadfast support for her niece Naomi and her nephew Stephen. When their parents disappear, Obasan steps in, never hesitating to bear the weight of caring for the abandoned children. She feeds them, clothes them, and ensures their well-being under impossible circumstances. Her commitment to them never falters, even when they neglect her. Stephen repeatedly treats Obasan with impatience and rudeness. Regardless, Obasan constantly puts the needs of others before her own. Her actions are aimed at making the people around her happy. Obasan does everything in her power to ensure that her niece and nephew find a place for themselves in the world and Naomi takes comfort in her gentleness and dependability. Despite her silence, Obasan is a focal point of the narrative and at the center of the main character Naomi’s life.

Rayona is in a way lost and can’t seem to find her place in the world. She thinks about herself in the way that she thinks others think of her. She is fifteen years old at the time and does not have a lot of sense of her self. Rayona is half African American and Native American, which makes her think she’s different from others and makes her have a low self esteem. She struggles with her identity and physical appearance. Another thing that makes it difficult for her to find her true self is that she lacks information about her heritage. Her dream is to have a “normal” life, meaning to have a functional happy family and to be able to fit in. Rayona feels like a real family is the opposite of what she has. She goes through a series of events and learns a little about her self in each of them. Rayona is

Jeanne was aware and scared at the time but overcame her fear living at a camp for almost four years of her life. The living situation for the Japanese families was horrendous, but Jeanne’s story was captivating and caused me to hope for the end to interment camps.

(TS)Najmah has been affected by loss, this gave her a goal and new ambitions, her emotions and traits have been impacted.

The author illustrates her life along with her parents backward, starting from the birth of her own child and ending with memories of her family

Quiet and emotionally exhausted, Naomi and Obasan retreat to bed. Naomi wakes and comes across a package from Aunt Emily, her mother’s sister. She reflects on Aunt Emily’s energetic crusades against racism, and for the remembrance and documentation of what happened to Japanese-Canadians during World War II. Naomi begins reflecting upon her childhood, beginning with her family’s beloved house in Vancouver. Significantly, she recalls her young self releasing chicks into a cage with a hen, not realizing the hen would peck the chick to death. Moreover, her neighbor Old Man Gower repeatedly molested Naomi when she was only four years old.

From Muslim bans to apartheid, no matter what its called--persecution, racism, oppression-- injustice will always leak from the cracks that form this Earth. Nevertheless, through generations and generations, these stories of suffering are marked through compositions of writings like the novel Krik? Krak! By Edwidge Danticat. Furthermore, with attention to the novel’s collection of stories regarding the hardships of eras of Haitians, it is clear that Danticat suggests that hoping for a less demoralizing reality for future generations is the only approach to enduring an oppressive society.

Although, she made a big mistake she choose to come back and repay the debt she owed Hassan. “Smile for me. Please.” (210) Back then she rejected his smile but now his smile was the very first thing she asked for when she finally reached “home” (210). When she saw his smile it felt like a hole in her heart has been filled.

Joy Kogawa’s novel, ‘Obasan’, starts with Naomi Nakane’s diary, which is about her favourite memory with her uncle, who she seems to have a special relationship with, however her uncle suddenly faces death. Naomi continues the book with her and her uncle’s wife, Obasan’s response to his death, and memories of the rest of her family. Within Naomi’s calm narrative, there are numerous emotions that are not necessarily positive; it contains subtle sense of darkness, loneliness, nostalgia, and anger. From the beginning to the end of chapter five, Naomi is surrounded by questions, that she’s been seeking throughout her whole life, but convinced that she will never find the answers to.

There is evidence of physical, mental, psychological abuse described from an early age. An alcoholic Father, controlling Mother responsible for a series of abortions made against the will of Malaika. A husband who after physically abusing her, once separated becomes a vicuous stalker inducing a consistent fear. At the central part of the book, a man walks into Malaika's life, a charming man with an accent, a man who seemed foreign to her in many ways, he was kind to her, offered a sanctuary away from her tyrannical husband and family, a role model for her two daughters in the true meaning of a “Father”. It is no surprise to the reader when this knight in shining armour turns out to be too good to be true.

This novel divided by two part with two different setting and story of Naomi and Sophia. Because in Chapter one through five, the author tells the story about how Sophia grows up in adult world with her mother and her mother’s friends. Because of uncertain home life, Sophia fears that the world could end at any moment so, she writes down the list of practical object that will need to be invented all over again once nuclear strikes (Page

Although there is no universal belief that empathy is central to social change, there is a significant level of agreement from educators, politicians, philosophers, and even talk show hosts, that reading fictional literature evokes feelings of empathy that can encourage individuals to make a difference in the world (Davis 400; Jurecic 10). Joy Kogawa’s novel, Obasan, is an example of how a text that exudes beauty and gentleness rather than anger while approaching a dark subject can powerfully move readers. Obasan follows the life of Naomi Nakane, a Japanese Canadian who was only five years old when her family was separated and relocated from their home in Vancouver during the Second World War. The novel focuses largely on Naomi’s childhood

The two heroines share a harsh background; they both have had a rough childhood and are searching for a way out of their misery. Their lives are centered around the strategies that contribute to their rise. When writing this essay I was mainly interested in exploring how even the characters with smaller roles could affect the outcome, could shape the path the heroines followed towards their rise, but also wanted to analyze all the aspects through characters contributed to the liberation of the heroines.

The resentment within the young girl’s family is essential to the novel because one can understand the young girl better as she makes her decision.