The journey in a novel can be accomplished physically, mentally or both as a character portrays aspects of their physical travel as well as traveling to seek or fulfill a goal. In Joy Kogawa’s Obasan, Naomi Nakane narrates her experiences with her family as they suffer prejudice of being Japanese Canadians while traveling to different provinces in attempts of getting away from incrimination of those injustices. It is shown how the constant movement from one place to another throughout Naomi’s life adds to the lack of communication and language their family faces presenting the theme of silence. Naomi begins the narrative of her childhood experiences in Vancouver where she remembers the happiness being in the house, but also darkness of the world outside. She states that “Inside the house in Vancouver there is confidence and laughter…But outside…there is an infinitely unpredictable, unknown, and often dangerous world” (Kogawa 69) …show more content…
This darkness is when she recalls her painful memories of sexual assault by her neighbor, Old Man Gower, causing her to become silent herself and not share anyone the sufferings she deals with. She is defenseless against her attacker and her silence causes her to be alone in grief. Naomi’s home in Vancouver is also the place the ties the connection with her mother; as her mother leaves for Japan, the only memories left between each other are in that house; time passes as the five year old Naomi waits for her mother’s return even though it will never happen. Naomi’s travel to other cities and provinces in turn causes her memories with her mother to slightly deteriorate. The home is Vancouver also presents the challenges the family faces as some of member of the family and friends are placed in internments camps. The physical movement is shown since Vancouver was a place where the entire Japanese race was sent away. Aunt Emily describes in her diary the adversities faced by the people placed in
The author illustrates the “dim, rundown apartment complex,” she walks in, hand and hand with her girlfriend. Using the terms “dim,” and “rundown” portrays the apartment complex as an unsafe, unclean environment; such an environment augments the violence the author anticipates. Continuing to develop a perilous backdrop for the narrative, the author describes the night sky “as the perfect glow that surrounded [them] moments before faded into dark blues and blacks, silently watching.” Descriptions of the dark, watching sky expand upon the eerie setting of the apartment complex by using personification to give the sky a looming, ominous quality. Such a foreboding sky, as well as the dingy apartment complex portrayed by the author, amplify the narrator’s fear of violence due to her sexuality and drive her terror throughout the climax of the
Like walking through a barren street in a crumbling ghost town, isolation can feel melancholy and hopeless. Yet, all it takes is an ordinary flower bud amidst the desolation to show life really can exist anywhere. This is similar to Stephen’s journey in The Samurai’s Garden. This novel is about an ailing Chinese boy named Stephen who goes to a Japanese village during a time of war between Japan and China to recover from his disease. By forming bonds with several locals and listening to their stories, he quickly matures into a young adult. Throughout the novel, Gail Tsukiyama shows how disease forces Stephen into isolation; however, Matsu’s garden and Sachi lead him out of solitude.
Like walking through a barren street in a crumbling ghost town, isolation can feel melancholy and hopeless. Yet, all it takes is something like one flower bud to show life really can exist anywhere. This is similar to Stephen’s journey in The Samurai’s Garden. This novel is about an ailing Chinese boy named Stephen who goes moves to a Japanese village during a time of war between Japan and China to recover from his disease. By forming bonds with several locals and listening to their stories, he quickly matures into a young adult. Throughout the novel, Gail Tsukiyama shows how disease forces Stephen into isolation; however, his relationship with Sachi and his time spent in Matsu’s garden lead him out of solitude.
Traveling from her war-torn homeland in search of safety, and freedom, with only her mother’s comfort, such a long and anxious journey was a reality for young Ziba.
Beyond that, Highway brings back Okimasis’s past promises with his wife to enrich the overall significance of the passage. The race is no longer a selfish desire to prove Okimasis’ superiority, but it becomes a quest for a buried love, for a miracle in his other half’s life. The author accentuates that meaningful past promises motivate one to rise through difficulties and empower him or her to achieve the present
In both short nonfictional stories, “ The Uprooting of a Japanese- American Family” by Yoshiko Uchida and “The Way to Rainy Mountain” by N.Scott Momaday both authors have comparative and contrasting traits in their purpose of writing their own stories.
...cial or not to suffer in silence as she deals with the many tragedies she faces especially the circumstances surrounding her mother. As an adult, Naomi has to decide if it is more important to reflect on her memories as expected from her Aunt Emily, or to repress the harsh memories of her past like Obasan and her Uncle did. She must also figure out how to assimilate in Canada as a third generation Japanese immigrant. These themes and the multi-layered character development are what are remembered by the reader once they finish the novel. I find this important because it is these themes and character development that relate this story to the other Asian American literature stories I have read in class. Therefore, although Obasan is technically an Japanese Canadian novel, the similarities between this stories, and the ones from Asian American writers are undeniable.
Since its publication in 1981, Joy Kogawa's Obasan has assumed an important place in Canadian literature and in the broadly-defined, Asian-American literary canon. Reviewers immediately heralded the novel for its poetic force and its moving portrayal of an often-ignored aspect of Canadian and American history. Since then, critics have expanded upon this initial commentary to examine more closely the themes and images in Kogawa's work. Critical attention has focused on the difficulties and ambiguities of what is, in more ways than one, a challenging novel. The complexity of Obasan's plot, the intensity of its imagery, and the quiet bitterness of its protest challenge readers to wrestle with language and meaning in much the same way that Naomi must struggle to understand her past and that of the larger Japanese-Canadian community. In this sense, the attention that Obasan has received from readers and critics parallels the challenges of the text: Kogawa's novel, one might say, demands to be reckoned with, intellectually as well as emotionally.
prejudice can be defined as the judgement inflicted toward an individual or on a group because it or they appear to be different in social status, nationality, and all other superficialities which pertain to the individual or group. However, prejudice comes from both within and with out. Such acts appear within the novel, Obasan by Jow Kogawa. In Obasan, the main character, Naomi Nakane, journeys through a path of old, forgotten memories which she remembers as the times of discrimination which she and her family experienced together. Through the past experiences of Naomi, Kogawa demonstrates that prejudice comes from noth within the individual and with out by the society.
...story. Ozeki reinvents herself to realize her own personal truth and creates a new identity with the shards of family history. Though she still shows traces of resentment toward her Japanese ancestry, she eventually grasps onto these roots, for they, along with her American roots, entwine to create the person she is today. To reject any part of oneself is to reject the whole thing; Ozeki unites her Japanese roots with her American origins, creating a yin and yang relationship sustaining in an intricate harmony.
By nature, human beings are scared of new things. Whether it be trying something new, or venturing to a place whose culture and way of life is considered foreign, the idea of drifting from our zone of comfort may be frightening. In the world of literature, this theme is recurring and offers readers a sense of what those characters feel as they cross that border or take a risk. The novel All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, displays the protagonists adventuring into the wild and uncivilized Mexico in an attempt to begin a new life. In Shūsaku Endō’s religious novel Silence, the reader journeys with the Jesuit missionaries while on their perilous attempt to lead the abandoned Japanese christians. No matter the reason for their journey,
Novels satisfy a human compulsion to peer into the lives of others and to see ourselves reflected in their narratives. Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic uses a nontraditional narrative approach to explore the experience of the Japanese “picture brides” and their lives in America. Through an unusual narrative structure and point of view, the novel emphasizes the unique experience of each Japanese woman featured (however briefly) in the narrative while suggesting an underlying universality in their lives.
One strength found in Gordon’s book is the fact that these are the personal memoirs of these travelers and therefore allows the readers to connect on a more personal level. This personal connection causes the reader to be more invested in the story and therefore truly strive to understand the world portrayed instead of just shallowly absorbing the setting. This is a strength because it gave the reader unique outlook on the Asian cultures because the audience feels personally involved in these situations. There are a few weaknesses in the book.
Yoko Ogawa’s “Revenge” was an entertaining but frustrating puzzle. These eleven stories loosely relate. However, to the extent that the stories relate, they relate only in pieces. It is hard to see coherent link. However, there are a few notable links that this paper analyzes. As Ogawa says through one of her characters, her work has the power to make the reader, “plunge” into the “icy current running under her words.” It is impossible for readers to thaw her “icy current”. However, it poses the kind of challenge that absorbs readers as they try chipping away at the icy details that connect her work.
Kogawa, Joy. "Obasan." An Anthology of Canadian Literature in English. Ed. Donna Bennett and Ed.