In some cultures, silence means everything. Sometimes it is not what you say, but what you don't say. The characters in this story live many ways through silence and it's effective nature. Naomi is torn between her aunts personalities, yet remains silent. The family remains silent throughout the events of their captiveness. Sometimes things are better left unsaid, but then again, did things work out in the end for these people? Sometimes, silence means everything. .
"In the U.S. silence is generally looked upon as passive; in China and Japan it traditionally signals pensiveness, alertness, and sensitivity" (Cheung, 113). The people of this story are silenced throughout their whole lives, living out their cultural ways, even though living in another country. They are raised to respect through silence. Ever since Naomi was five, Obasan, their aunt, raised her and her brother Stephen. Before this occurred Naomi seemed to have a happy childhood. She looked up to her mother as all young children do. She respected her mother's authority and clung to her demeanors and ways of acting. She would play outside and go about her business unbothered, trusting everything her mother told, as all children trust a parent. .
"If I speak I will split open and spill out" (Kogawa, 63). From the words of Naomi, silence is even thrown into play during such devious acts as molestation. When the neighbor Mr. Gower was molesting five-year-old Naomi, she remained silent. "The conflict between silence and speech is complicated for Naomi by her memories of the pre-oedipal silence-(Goellnicht, 295). She was taught not to lash back at adults and to do what they say. At this moment, she learned dis-trust. The incidents with him happened more than once, yet she remained silent. This, for Naomi, drew her apart from her mother, leaving something between them that could not be discussed or mentioned. Before this event, they had sort of a silent communication, and now she misses that.
Naomi says that "the language of her (Obasan's) grief is silence. ... (Kogawa 14) Naomi never gets access to Obasan's minds and thoughts. ... In fact, Naomi realizes Obasan's evasion is a protective silence. ... (Kogawa 22) Under Obasan's guidance, Naomi is extremely quiet in her childhood. ... She follows Obasan's silence in her childhood. ...
When Naomi returns home to console her Aunt Obasan, she begins to relive the difficulties of her life. ... Obasan also taught me a lot about the Japanese culture and background. ... On the flip side there were also many weaknesses in the book Obasan. ... Obasan was on the most part well written and gives an excellent account of the Japanese reviews. Obasan was a good novel to help better understand our Canadian history....
In the novel Obasan, written by Joy Kogawa, an important event occurred that changed the lives of many Japanese Canadians during World War II. ... The excuse Canada had for this action was that "Japanese people were not white and could be Japanese 'spies'".2 In the novel Obasan, one of the letters from Aunt Emily says "we're a 'lower order of people'. ... In Obasan, Aunt Emily states "we're hit so many ways at one time that if I wasn't past feeling, I think I would crumble.... Obasan greatly encases these ideas and demonstrates the unjus...
Personal Journal After reading the novel, Obasan, I step out a mile for understanding the disadvantages about being go to war. For my opinion, "War" doesn"t earn any benefits. It hurts people's souls, destroys the friendship between different nations and break down the whole world ec...
In the novel Obasan, the protagonist goes through a dream sequence. There are three dreams that she experiences that are inter-realated. The dreams have a relationship between the loss of her parents, and the fears about the war that is taking place while the story is being told. This essay will ...
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 eth...
--Obasan The educational value through this novel is not necessarily what the characters perceptions or even if school is mentioned in the story, but the significance is that the readers can relate to this novel through the character, the language, the proverbs and learning about Japanese-Canadian history, which is a lesson in itself. ... The historical setting is faithfully portrayed and gives the reader a clear sense of what it was like to live in that time period, such as wearing a nemaki "a nightie or Obasan making lots of sticky onigiri rice balls. ...
