Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Obasan, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race, Identity, and Citizenship
History and Memory
Speech vs. Silence
Selflessness and Decorum
Summary
Analysis
In August 1972, Naomi and her uncle walk along a ravine near Granton, Alberta, where their family moved in 1951. Naomi recalls the first time she and Uncle visited the ravine in 1954, when he remarked that he would tell her something when she was old enough. Naomi is now 36, but Uncle has yet to tell her what he meant. She asks him why they come to the ravine every year, but he doesn’t answer. Naomi takes in the vastness of the sky, and she briefly parts with Uncle to take in the landscape and pick a flower, which she always does on their annual visits to the ravine.
Naomi is close to Uncle, but his refusal to speak openly prevents her from understanding him on a deeper level. His silence—despite his promise to tell Naomi the truth when she is old enough—indicates that Uncle still sees Naomi as a child, which establishes the recurring theme in the novel of older generations’ commitment to shielding children from the truth.
Themes
