Obasan Analysis

Even before the war, Japanese-Canadians experienced widespread prejudice. They had been denied the right to vote, and were not allowed to hold many jobs that other Canadians could do. That was bad,...

The narrator in Obasan is none other than our very own Naomi. Sure, Aunt Emily hijacks the story for a bit with her journals, but in the end it still Naomi telling us her story. Since the novel beg...

Autobiography and Coming of AgeYou got us. This is not a story about Joy Kogawa's life. But does that mean that it's not an autobiography? Of course not.There are lots of types of autobiographies,...

Self-DepreciatingNaomi isn't the biggest personality on the block—she likes to play her cards close to her chest—but we do see her being self depreciating and sarcastic. It's one of the first t...

Partially JapaneseWe say partially Japanese because there isn't a lot of actual Japanese spoken in this novel. But if you pay close attention, Kogawa writes the dialogue of the Japanese speaking ch...

The novel Obasan is titled after Naomi's Aunt Ayako, who she calls Obasan. It's almost strange that Kogawa chooses this title, since the novel is more of Naomi's story than anyone else's. We're pre...

To him that overcomethwill I give to eatof the hidden mannaand will give hima white stoneand in the stonea new name written….(Revelation 2:17) This quote from the Bible is a promise to Christians...

I inch my way down the steep path that skirts the wild rose bushes, down slipping along the wet grass where the underground stream seeps through the earth. My shoes are mud-clogged again. At the ve...

Obasan is a slightly difficult read for the same reason that the tilt-a-whirl is a difficult ride. You go back and forth so much it's hard to keep things straight.The language and the subject matte...

It's Miss Nah-Canny to You, BusterNaomi Nakane is your everyday schoolteacher. She's also Japanese-Canadian. She lives a normal life: she has an Uncle, an aunt named Emily, and another aunt called...

This isn't the kind of comedy that ends with laughter. It's the kind of comedy that ends with truth: the kind of truth that sets you free and paves the way for happiness. Naomi learns the truth abo...

Naomi is a teacher, and life is normal (bratty students and all) until she gets an important phone. This is the message: Uncle is dead. Her Uncle acted as a surrogate father for her, so this is ext...

Save the Joy Kogawa House! The house where she grew up in the Marpole neighborhood of Vancouver is going to be demolished. Oh, you mean that it's already been saved? Never mind. (Source.) Even thou...

You won't have to worry about fogging up the windows with this novel: the steaminess is almost nonexistent. The steamiest thing that happens is Naomi dreams of some very seductive ladies. But inste...

The Bible, Habakkuk 2:2 (7.9), Daniel 1-3: Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego (9.7), Gospel of John (15.4), Ezekiel 37:1-14 (23.4) Walter Scott, "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" (7.72) Cupid (7.84) Mary (Mo...