Silence, Memory, Conflict: How Obasan relates to Asian American Literature

Obasan is a novel written by Japanese Canadian author Joy Kogawa that was first published in 1981. Although it is a fictional story, Obasan is heavily influenced by the real life events of Kogawa who was born in Vancouver in 1935 and was, along with her family, interned and persecuted during World War Two. Obasan chronicles the life of a Canadian Japanese family during World War Two from the perspective of Naomi, who was a third generation, little girl at the time of the events. The story uses a framing method of a thirty-six year old Naomi who is mourning her loss of her uncle and in the process begins to reminisce on her life as a young girl. Although Naomi is the narrator of the novel, her character remains somewhat mysterious. As a child, she is a silent little girl that goes through a number of seriously traumatic experiences. Therefore, to function as an adult she has to suppress her past and her emotions. The novel as a whole is paced very slowly often donating full chapters to a specific memory Naomi has as a child. However, Naomi was never in an internment camp, and since she was a young girl at the time some of her family was interned, there is little description about life in an internment camp and the hardships endured in the novel. Obasan, instead, trades action for developing multi-layered characters. The characters in Obasan are often complex and represents different facets of Japanese Canadian life. The characters often deal with the experience of being Japanese Canadian in different ways and provide different responses to common issues. As previously stated, Obasan does not actually go into detail about the hardships of living in internment camp, instead it uses this as a backdrop to explore the obstacles Naomi an...

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...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.