Obasan Chapter 18 Summary

  • Grandma Nakane is dead. Naomi doesn't quite understand what dead means, or how that can be true. She just saw Grandma and Grandpa Nakane a couple of weeks ago. How could she be dead?
  • At the wake, people come and give Obasan money. Then at the funeral Naomi entertains herself by drawing while Stephen is being his regular grumpy self. Grandma Nakane's body will be cremated because she's Buddhist, unlike Obasan and Uncle Sam.
  • Several men build a pyre and Obasan watches until the coffin catches on fire. Naomi just wonders who could survive such heat.