Obasan Chapter 13 Summary

  • Are they Japanese, or are they Canadian? Are they the enemy? It's a riddle that none of the first-generation Japanese can understand.
  • Even though he doesn't understand, Grandpa Nakane laughs. He has a bent back and he can't use his right arm. We see him carrying a present to a Christmas concert where Naomi plays one of the angels. It's a big theatrical production, with dramatic lighting and her father singing Gloria In Excelsis Deo.
  • All of Christmas is like that. It's full of people, music, and presents. Stephen gets a children's Encyclopedia for Christmas, but Naomi is more interested in it than he is. There are stories about martyrs and brave children.
  • One night she is thinking about this and she hears her dad coughing in his study. These days he isn't himself. No one comes over to their house anymore. But this time Aunt Emily is here and she's talking to Naomi's dad.
  • It's not a happy conversation. She says Grandpa Nakane is in the sick bay. Naomi wonders why he's at the beach because she doesn't understand what "sick bay" means. Then Aunt Emily talks about "the Pool," and Naomi wonders why so many people are going swimming.
  • Now that she thinks about it, she hasn't seen a lot of her family in a while. Aunt Emily and Naomi's dad talk about Saltspring, and Grandma Nakane in a dirty scary place. Dad says something about filling a quota. Naomi doesn't understand any of this, but she's getting more and more afraid.
  • Then suddenly the conversation is dropped. Stephen runs into the room to remind Aunt Emily about the curfew.