The poem "Day of the Bride- was written by Joy Kogawa, who is an award-winning Japanese Canadian author who often integrates ideas of culture and identity into her writing. The poem is heavily laden with historical Japanese imagery, culture and tradition. The author makes several references to ethnic fixtures such as origami, traditional cuisine and Japanese dress. The main theme of the poem is the contrast between these preceding images and customs, the world we are living in today, and the dramatic passage between the two. .
Joy Kogawa is known not only for her writing but also for her involvement with Japanese-Canadian activism groups. She was born in Vancouver in 1935. Joy and her family were sent to an internment camp by the Canadian government in 1941, where they spent several years of manual labor. In the late 1940's she began her secondary education, which included study several universities. Much of Joy's material centers on her heritage and life history, individual identity and cultural diversity. Joy has now written a number of novels, poems and essays - one of which, titled Obasan, won multiple prestigious awards. .
"The day of the Bride dawns- (1) directly into references to traditional Japanese customs. The first few lines act as the dressing room; the bride emerges prepared for her day. The line "Through layers of white plaster skin- (2) refers to one of the customary practices of the Japanese wedding ceremony. The bride-to-be often would have been painted white from head to toe at the very beginning of her day as a visual representation of her pure status. Already the author has begun to suggest the role of presentation and fazade in the formal procedure of marriage. Prepared for her would be several formal kimonos and dresses. Her wedding attire, to be changed several times throughout the ceremony, includes a stark white kimono in which she presents herself metaphorically "White and tight as a folded paper message.
"If I speak I will split open and spill out" (Kogawa, 63). ... "Crimes of history can stay in history"(Kogawa, 41). ... One lives in sound, and the other one in stone-(Kogawa, 32). ... Joy Kogawa not only wrote this book, but also researched it and lived it as well. ... Joy Kogawa not only wrote about it, but also lived this devastating part of Canadian history. ...
Joy Kogawa portrays different aspects of Issei and Nisei towards the meaning of silence and voice. ... (Kogawa 14) Naomi never gets access to Obasan's minds and thoughts. ... (Kogawa 22) Under Obasan's guidance, Naomi is extremely quiet in her childhood. ... (Kogawa 253) Stephen does not like to talk. ... (Kogawa 267) She will never release her fears and adversity to her mother. ...
In the novel Obasan, written by Joy Kogawa, an important event occurred that changed the lives of many Japanese Canadians during World War II. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor the racism towards the Japanese Canadians became more intense. The Canadian government believed that their intentions w...
The novel starts in the seventies with Naomi a teacher in Northern Alberta finding out that her uncle has died. When Naomi returns home to console her Aunt Obasan, she begins to relive the difficulties of her life. She recounts the struggle against the government and themselves while trying ...
The education value in children's literature is widespread, and there is an opportunity to read such novels as Joy Kogawa's Naomi's Road, Gary Paulsen's The Hatchet, and L.M Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. ... Joy Kowaga's depicts is the story of Naomi, whose Japanese Canadian family is uprooted from Vancouver during the Second World War. ...
