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
The story returns to 1972, as Naomi grapples with the sheer amount of documents in the parcel Aunt Emily has sent her. She wants to escape the past that these papers represent and the “heavy identity” of her Japanese heritage that requires her to constantly monitor herself. However, since Emily once told her that “reconciliation can't begin without mutual recognition of facts,” Naomi forces herself to think about the ways in which forced relocation after World War II permanently destroyed Japanese Canadian families. The government compelled Japanese Canadians to move to Japan and only provided resources to those willing to do so. Some Issei who couldn’t read English were misled into leaving their Nisei children after they signed papers agreeing to return to Japan.
Naomi’s description of her Japanese Canadian identity as “heavy” highlights how that identity weighs on her. It has made her a victim of racism that made her feel alienated from her home country, and it instilled in her cultural values that prevent her from confronting that trauma. As she looks through Aunt Emily’s box of documents, though, she discovers an impulse to confront her past, prompted by Emily’s insistence on the importance of recognizing the past. Emily notably doesn’t place the responsibility for healing solely on the Japanese Canadian community––she believes that the oppressors and the oppressed must mutually recognize the wrongdoing in order to move forward from it.
Themes
Aunt Emily will be arriving soon with Stephen, and Nakayama-sensei has also promised to visit. Naomi flashes back to a conversation she had with Emily. They discuss Uncle Dan, who has remained “fiercely loyal” to Canada; the unknown fates of Mother and Grandma Kato; and Nakayama-sensei, who tried in vain to foster a sense of community among displaced Japanese Canadians. Naomi thinks about Emily and other activists who challenged the government’s mistreatment of Japanese Canadians and wonders what good their words can do.
Aunt Emily is more willing than Naomi’s other relatives to discuss the past with her, but her words don’t bring Naomi closure. Emily’s impact on Naomi’s life indicates that recognizing and sharing trauma is an important step in fighting for justice and pursuing personal closure, but her lack of concrete influence as an activist suggests that these actions are merely a step toward closure and not the ultimate resolution.
Themes
