The Narrative Experience In Obasan, By Joy Kogawa

1544 Words4 Pages

David L. Foster
Mrs. Schwartz
AP English 12, 4th Block
November 17, 2017
Obasan IRP
In life, there will always be ghastly memories standing in one’s way of achieving eternal happiness. It is up to mankind to determine how individuals should overcome adversity so they can experience the blissfulness that life has to offer. In Joy Kogawa’s novel, Obasan, Naomi’s experience throughout her life reveals the conflict between man versus self. Naomi seeks to find balance between remembering and forgetting her tragic childhood. Kogawa demonstrates how eradicating one’s past, dwelling on previous experiences, experiencing trauma, and shielding another from trauma can lead to one’s corruption. Individuals who forget about their past lose things that are essential to …show more content…

Kogawa reveals how Obasan’s silence made her struggle is the real world. “I clear my throat and stammer. I lack communication skills,” (Kogawa 269). Through this quote, Kogawa illustrates to the readers how being too silent about their feelings of a traumatic past can be detrimental to someone’s state of mind. Obasan loses her identity as she kept trying to suppress the negative emotions about her past. It should be the best interest for her to try to talk to someone about her feelings. On the flip-side, Naomi reveals the universal truth about dealing with adversity in her life. “Gentle Mother,we were lost in our silences. Our wordlessness was our mutual destruction,” (Kogawa 291). Naomi experiences a huge shift when Kogawa revealed this quote. Naomi at first did not realize that being silent about her horrid childhood experience was not helping her be happy in the present. She learned from her family’s fate and now she is willing to talk about her past. In Shoenut’s article, readers can get an in depth understanding of Joy Kogawa’s novel by exploring the aspects of

Show More
Related

  • Bread Givers By Sara Smolinsky: Character Analysis

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    She sees her father old and suffering, his wife sent him out to get money through begging; and he rants on about how his daughters left him to basically rot and how they have not honored him nor do they show gratitude towards him for all that he has done for them (Chapter 21). She gives into her feelings of shame at leaving him to become the withered old man that he is and she takes him in believing that she must take care of him because no one else would; because it is his spirit and willpower burning inside of her. But soon she understands her mistake in letting her father back into he life. "[She] suddenly realized that [she] had come back to where [she] had started twenty years ago when [she] began [her] fight for freedom. But in [her] rebellious youth, [she] thought [she] could escape by running away. And now [she] realized that the shadow of the burden was always following [her], and [there she] stood face to face with it again (Chapter 21)." Though the many years apart had changed her, made her better, her father was still the same man. He still had the same thoughts and ways and that was not going to change even on his death bed; she had let herself back into contact with the tyrant that had ruled over her as a child, her life had made a complete

    Read More

  • Freedom and Human Rights: When The Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

    1277 Words  | 3 Pages

    There were many events that happened in the past which people were fighting for their rights and freedoms. In the novel “When The Emperor Was Divine” by Julie Otsuka, she uses this novel to tell the readers about the importance of freedom and human right. In the story, she did not mention the name of the main characters, but the characters that involve in this novel is a Japanese family who get arrest by the American because of their ethnicities. First, their father got arrested by the American because the American doubted that this man was a spy from Japan. Then their whole family got arrested into the Japanese Concentration Camp in the desert. They were ordered not to go through the fence of the camp or else they will get kill by the soldiers who guarding the camp. This means that their freedoms were taken away by the camp. In the story, the girl’s personality was changed because of this camp. She starts to realize that this “camp” was nothing but a jail. So she started to give on her life and not to care about anything. She used to eat with her family, but now she never did; also she started to smoke cigarette in her ages of 14 to15. Also their human rights were being taken while their were in the camp. They were being force to admit to America for their loyalty. It makes all the Japanese people to feel low self-esteem for their identity. Therefore, the author uses this novel to show the changing of this family by the lack of freedom and human right.

    Read More

  • The Rhetorical Analysis Of John Hersey's Hiroshima By John Hersey

    1315 Words  | 3 Pages

    The character, Miss Sasaki, who was left trapped, disabled and severely injured, by the dropping of the bomb suffered more in the long haul, from the emotional impact than just the physical destruction alone. Not only was she physically disabled, but also emotionally disabled, as the overwhelming feeling of being hopeless is a permanent psychological scar on the brain. Being unable to walk properly for the remainder of her life, Miss Sasaki, knew that she would no longer be able to provide for her family anymore; in Japanese cultural the honor of their family is of utmost importance, similar in nature to radical religious groups. Also of Japanese cultural priorities, were that of marriage. In Japan, women who were married were looked upon with higher statue and class. Miss Sasaki knew that her chances of getting married now had been reduced and for a woman of this time, that realization, also leaves damaged emotional baggage within herself. All of the aforementioned, left Miss Sasaki depressed for years to come and ultimately left her a permanent emotional scar affecting the rest of her life. By including the accounts of Miss Sasaki, in this book, John Hersey, exposes to the readers, that atomic warfare not only affects the human body physically for years to come but also

    Read More

  • Character Development In Birdie

    1425 Words  | 3 Pages

    Though, acceptance of trauma can allow hindered development, eventually allowing full self-acceptance. Bernice, a once strong woman has been verbally, emotionally and physically abused since her childhood. Resulting in a loss of her sense of being. Within the beginning of the novel, when she is reflecting on her past memories, it becomes clear to the reader that in order for her to be able to accept herself, she needs to surface her past traumas. Bernice explains that, “In the tendrils, Bernice realizes there is remorse in her body and she is trying to kick it out. Her shell rejects remorse. Shame. Feeling bad over feeling good” (49). This mindset is negative and expresses her inability to share her emotions due to previous emotional abuse from her family and the many men that have taken advantage of her. This idea of disallowing happiness hinders her ability to accept herself and her past actions. However, through more time of self-reflection (over 200 hundred pages of her lying in bed with the author switching perspectives, confusing the hell out of me lol) Bernice realizes that she must learn to cope with these traumas and attempt to have a positive outlook on life. As Bernice is accepting the damaged part of herself, she comes to the realization that, “She can feel her body now, its loose and stiff at the same time. Her head, though will be the hard part. Part of her lost for so long that it is hard to enunciate what, exactly, she has found” (228). In comparison to when Bernice was unable to acknowledge her feelings and thoughts, it is now clear that she is slowly learning to manage her issues. By Bernice discovering that she is beginning to acknowledge her thoughts, this is the first step to being able to accept one’s self. In Total, It is shown that Bernice is deeply affected by the trauma within her life, however she is able to

    Read More

  • Joy Kogawa's Obasan

    1771 Words  | 4 Pages

    Much about Kogawa's novel makes it difficult not only to read but also to classify or categorize. First, Obasan blurs the line between nonfiction and fiction. Kogawa draws from actual letters and newspaper accounts, autobiographical details, and historical facts throughout the novel, but she artistically incorporates this material into a clearly fictional work. In addition, Kogawa's narrative operates on multiple levels, from the individual and familial to the communal, national, political, and spiritual. Stylistically, the novel moves easily between the language of documentary reportage and a richly metaphorical language, and between straightforward narrative and stream-ofconsciousness exposition. This astonishing variety in Kogawa's novel can, at times, become bewildering and unsettling to the reader. But as many readers and critics have noted, Kogawa's style and method in Obasan also constitute the novel's unique strength. Kogawa writes in such a way that ambiguity, uncertainty, irony, and paradox do not weaken her story but instead — paradoxically — become the keys to understanding it.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper from the Point of View of a Doctor's Wife

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story, the narrator is forced to tell her story through a secret correspondence with the reader since her husband forbids her to write and would “meet [her] with heavy opposition” should he find her doing so (390). The woman’s secret correspondence with the reader is yet another example of the limited viewpoint, for no one else is ever around to comment or give their thoughts on what is occurring. The limited perspective the reader sees through her narration plays an essential role in helping the reader understand the theme by showing the woman’s place in the world. At ...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Remember By Joy Harjo

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem, “Remember”, by Joy Harjo illuminates the significance of different aspects in one’s life towards creating one’s own identity. Harjo, explains how everything in the world is connected in some way. She conveys how every person is different and has their own identities. However, she also portrays the similarities among people and how common characteristics of the world impact humans and their identities. Harjo describes the interconnectedness of different aspects of nature and one’s life in order to convey their significance in creating one’s identity.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Narrative In Olaudah Equiano's Journey

    538 Words  | 2 Pages

    Equiano’s journey begins as a child where he is kidnapped from his village along with his sister, Equiano’s childhood naivety is emphasized from the beginning of this narrative and is hinted at throughout, reflecting on the childish wonder of the young Equiano and making for an even more shocking narrative as a result of the European culture shock he faced along with the European treatment of slaves. Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa? New Light on Eighteenth-Century Question of Identity Vincent Carretta argues the birthplace of Olaudah Equiano, arguing that the author may not have been born in Africa but moreover born into slavery in South Carolina. Equiano himself states in The Interesting Narrative, a scholarly firestorm erupted over the

    Read More

  • Xuan Mai’s Trauma and Recovery

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    An important aspect of Dana Sach’s “if you lived here” is the trauma and recovery that characters like Xuan Mai go through. Trauma results from an event that is overwhelming to the person and causes symptoms that are a response to the trauma. Recovery is when the life narrative is pieced back together so that the trauma is, “part of the learning curve of the life narrative.” (Herman) The trauma and recovery of characters like Xuan Mai is important because the stage that the character is undergoing impacts their actions and attitudes toward key events in the novel. This is evident in how Xuan Mai’s attitude toward Shelley’s adoption of Hai Au changes based on what stage of trauma and recovery that she is in.

    Read More

  • Narrative Essay On Olaudah Equiano

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the late seventeen hundreds former slave, Olaudah Equiano, began his autobiography. In the introduction he clarifies his reason for writing the account; informing his audience that he does not seek fame and fortune and is merely a humble man who wishes to persuade the audience to promote the abolition of slavery and to articulate the horrors of enslavement. Equiano provides a voice for those who were not allowed to advocate for themselves and their rights. He aims to eradicate the idea that slaves are second class versions of a human beings that are treated as objects, diminishing their worth and personal value. Equiano pursues this goal by blending his belief of religion, slavery, and personal adventure with a complexity that appeals

    Read More

  • The Canadian Borderland and Racism

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    Eleanor Rao, 2004, Exile From Exile: Ironic Paradoxes in Joy Kogawa's Obasan, vol. 18, 2004. Issue title: Within Hostile Borders. Ann Arbor, MI: MPublishing, University of Michigan Library 2004. URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.ark5583.0018.005

    Read More

  • Narrative Of Olaudah Equiano

    315 Words  | 1 Pages

    Africa is knowing as one of the riches soils in the world. It is also knowing as the motherland for African American. Olaudah Equiano experienced Slavery in Africa on a journey for West Indies which arrived in Barbados.. Equiano and his sister was kidnapped from their family and separated from each other. Equiano talks about his experience being a slave. He mentions how at moment they were nice to him and that he was allowed to see his sister. The other villages were inferior of each other. There were times when the community leaders were not watching. The bad men would make deals with other criminals and become allies. He talks about the long walk to the coast and how they were nice to him and helped him

    Read More

  • Ellen Foster

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    basis of the plot and themes of this novel. The fond memories she possessed of her mother and the harsh ones of her father are reflected in the thoughts and

    Read More

  • Summary Of Somebody Somewhere Poem By Donna Williams

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    She continues in this sequel to talk about the abuse she faced and the dysfunction that surrounded her life as a child and as a teen, and the ‘empty space’ in which she lived in as a result. She talks about the multiple personalities she was exhibiting, the rebellious “Willie” and the kind “Carol”; as well as hearing noises and her sensory problems. In this book, the author puts more emphasis on the “consciousness” and “awareness” and how important that was for her therapeutic process. She could not just be on “auto-pilot” and act normal; the road to recovery was filled with self-awareness and the need to process all the pieces of the puzzle—often with the guidance and assistance of her therapist. She had a need to analyze the abstract concept of emotions as well as feelings and thoughts. Connecting with others who go through what she did was also integral to her

    Read More

  • Homer’s Iliad – Searching for Meaning in Tragedy

    1807 Words  | 4 Pages

    Thus, story and memory remove humans from the horrible brevity of mortal life by bringing existence into a realm outside of time. Humans die, but through story their fellow humans can make them immortal. Even amidst life’s tragedies, stories allow us to transform what seems an unbearable reality into something deeply beautiful. And yet their power is not merely retrospective since stories impose moral responsibility on our every action. Forgetting, therefore, is among the worst evils; not only because of the “moral perversity” it permits, but also because of the meaning it denies.

    Read More

More about The Narrative Experience In Obasan, By Joy Kogawa

Open Document