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 moves back to 1945 as Naomi, Obasan, Uncle, and Stephen arrive in the city of Lethbridge, Alberta. Lethbridge is colorless, and the air is so dusty that Naomi struggles to breathe. Uncle arranges a living situation with a man on the street, and the Nakanes are taken in the back of a truck to their new home: a tiny, unfurnished, dust-covered hut that stands near the farmhouse on a white family’s farm.
The small bits of joy, beauty, and community that the Nakanes found in Slocan are completely absent in Lethbridge. The town is ugly and uncomfortable, and it offers no Japanese community for the Nakanes to engage with. Instead, they are forced to live like farm animals on a white family’s property.
Themes
