Obasan Character Analysis

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.

Throughout the novel there is a switch between the younger women experiencing the events as they occur and Orleanna reflecting back onto what the family faced. This allows the reader to be able to not only make predictions on what may happen throughout the course of the novel, but it also allows the reader to be able to see how the experiences has impacted one of the women, and understand how it may impact the rest of the women. Orleanna seems to be severely impacted by what she has experienced. She speaks in a sorrow-filled tone and expresses the regrets that she has about the whole trip. This shows the reader the transformation from a quiet woman with unspoken thoughts to one that has strong feelings and seems trapped in her guilt. On the other hand, by using narrators speaking in present tense offers a whole new outlook on each individual and how they change. Instead of seeing a direct before and after, there is a more subtle, slow change that can be viewed. As a result, the reader can see more in the character development as it unfolds. The audience is able to pick out the point where each of the women is forced to rethink her

In the novel, Zeitoun, Kathy tried many times to convince Zeitoun into evacuating, when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Unfortunately she was unsuccessful, and therefore he stayed in the city through the hurricane. The novel, explains Zeitoun’s obstinate refusal to evacuate from New Orleans with his wife and children during the hurricane. “[Zeitoun's] grandmother had stayed put during countless storms in her home on Arwad Island, and he planned to do the same. A home was worth fighting for.”(Zeitoun, 70, Eggers). Despite the fact that a house is may seem replaceable, this is actually symbolic of assimilation in the United States, just like Zeitoun’s grandmother refused to leave her house during many storms on Award Island, Zeitoun's has now settled in New Orleans and he is not planning on leaving.

There have been many things I have been so proud to have accomplished both as a professional and as an individual. Besides the game I have mentioned several times in this journal and many other past journals, I have become more confident in my own abilities. In the beginning, I found it hard to find the confidence needed as I was nervous about doing something wrong. I have grown to learn from the staff and from mistakes. I embrace any mistakes I make as they are learning opportunities, not something to fear.

In the story Into The Beautiful North, there is an array of colorful characters and the story seems to have strong tones of magical realism. While analyzing the characters, many of them fit into the fairytale profiles. In the story, there is a heroine and a damsel in distress. A hero’s purpose in a book is to save the damsel in distress, which in this story, is the town Tres Camarones. This story is a modern fairy tale because the characters fall into classic fairy tale archetypes, but have their own modern day twist.

Jonas, Lina, and Doon all posses the stereotypical traits of a hero. They are intelligent, courageous, and caring but they also have individual traits that led them to their success. These traits are solidified by their actions, words and thoughts throughout the story. Doon was serious and passionate, which came off as rude to some, but helped him and lina find their way out of Ember. He displays this trait in his frequent outbursts, such as his first on page thirteen, when he shouts to his class, “‘But Ember is not prospering’...’Everything is getting worse and worse.’”.Another trait of his is trust, as he never doubts for one second lina’s actions and words, but instead goes along with them. This is shown on page 112 , where Lina realizes

Identity has become a big factor throughout the history of the United States. The novel “Ask The Dust” and the textbook “Give Me Liberty” has a big focus on how individuals have different values and opinions because of where they come from and character itself. According to the novel, “… I stood and smoked them all, and saw myself a great author with that natty Italian briar, and a cane, stepping out of a big black car, and she was there too.” Arturo the main character of the novel focus on his character throughout the book because he believes that being himself in a place where he went looking for opportunities to be successful can benefit his overall career as a writer. He is an Italian American who meets a Mexican American women where he

Through history people started to create expectations of what an feminine women is .Most of these expectations have gender roles women should have like cleaning,cooking ,and looking after their child. Throughout the show ¨Stranger Things¨ We have many Characters that have very feminine roles and some that have very masculine roles.Many of them start building their identity like For example we have Joyce a very feminine and masculine women because she takes over both gender roles.She is an single mother that has two sons Jonathan and Will ,without the father in the picture she takes over the male gender role in this aspect ,but a female role when it comes to cooking and cleaning.The traditional Mother will make sure her priorities are straight.Right before her son goes missing her gender norms come in witch are ¨a set of societal norms dictating the types of behaviors which are generally

The main character in “Was it a Dream?” is a very complex man, with many attributes hidden within the story. He seems to be in denial about the truth, naive when it comes to others actions and indecisive with the split decisions that he makes. Firstly, the man seems ignorant to what people are actually like during their lives, when the truth is right in front of him. There is a few points in the story where you can infer that he ignores the issue at hand.

their dead relatives. A glimpse of an old quilt makes her return to the old question of why her mother never came back. As a child, Naomi asked Obasan about her mother, but Obasan provided no information. Now, Obasan can’t find what she is looking for, and Naomi helps her back to bed.

She wanted to rid herself of the past rather than learn about it once and for all. These events lingered as she says “I want to get away from all this. From the past and all these papers, from the present, from the memories, from the deaths, from Aunt Emily and her heap of words. I want to break loose from the heavy identity, the evidence of rejection, the unexpressed passion, the misunderstood politeness. I am tired of living between deaths and funerals, weighted with decorum, unable to shout or sing or dance, unable to scream or swear, unable to laugh, unable to breathe out loud.” (Kogawa 218) Naomi’s past has painted a reality in her present life that haunts her constantly. She cannot escape what cannot be changed, and as a result, her struggle with the past becomes a theme of whether to remember or forget about the past. This contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole as this inner battle stays imminent throughout the story and is a major theme in the

It is typical for children of foreigners to be embarrassed by their traditional cultures and methods living in America, all people seek to “fit-in” because it is the nature of our being--to be socially accepted is beneficial for the development of people. This is the same for Yoshiko Uchida, who growing up had much appreciated her parent’s lack of force in keeping traditional Japanese ways upon her and her sister, Keiko Uchida. The girls experienced much of a normal childhood and had even lived much more comfortably than their counterparts; growing up, however, Yoshiko had began to feel shame of her ancestry. There were instances in which her mother’s traditional Japanese behavior was overbearing for Yoshiko, who had felt immense embarrassment.

In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo strives to be the manliest man he can possibly be. Okonkwo is also the leader of a clan in Umuofia and he is a highly respected man in that community. Although it can get to the point where it is extremely destructive to his loved ones along with his clan. Truthfully Okonkwo becomes the man he is because of his father, a not well respected, womanly, lazy, man. Okonkwo sees the rules of the clan very literal and wouldn’t go against them unlike his father who tried to avoid and bend the rules of the clan. Even though he feels true emotion his mindset is tough which makes him exhibit these emotions through angry and violent acts towards a lot of people, especially his family. This is a huge contrast to being a Cosmopolitan, which is someone who is comfortable to all surroundings, cultures, ideas, and beliefs. Okonkwo does a lot that shows he doesn’t have a very open mindset with most things and is extremely stern with the things he himself believes in. If Okonkwo would have learned and participated in ways of a Cosmopolitan he could have been a lot more successful in his life than he already was.

Okonkno was unable to get the Igbo to fight with him because they would be fighting their own people. When Okonkwo killed the head messenger, no one did anything, “Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape. They had broken into tumult instead of action. He discerned fright in that tumult. He heard voices asking: ‘Why did he do it?’” (Achebe 168). The people knew that nothing good would come out of it, and Okonkwo’s title being taken away made him lose his reputation, therefore the Igbo questioned him. The white man had gained power in the clan with the religion, “‘How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one.’” (Achebe 145). The religion was popular for its peaceful ways, and it attracted the Igbo splitting them into two sides. Okonkwo was unable to get supporters for these reasons, which made defeating the white men impossible.

Olunde attempts to reveal to Jane the greatness of his father 's sacrifice for his peace and the peace of his own people, his father is going to commit suicide to save his community from destruction. However, Jane cannot understand the implication of that sacrifice which she regards as a ' 'barbaric custom ' ' or even ' 'feudalistic. ' ' Olunde 's long conversation with Jane reveals the arrogance, vulnerability, disintegration and hypocrisy of the English people. He expresses the terrible conditions of war he underwent during his stay in England. As a medical student there, Olunde has seen ' 'the West on its own grounds, complete in its wartime vulnerabilities. He attends to English soldiers wounded on World War II and has therefore