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
Naomi visits Obasan and finds her in the kitchen. She asks her aunt if Uncle suffered, but Obasan simply replies that everybody dies someday. Obasan pours Naomi some tea, and Naomi sees a loaf of bread baked by her uncle. She wonders if baking that bread was Uncle’s last act, and she remembers when she and her older brother Stephen helped Uncle bake his first loaf. She and Stephen used to tease Uncle about how he always burned the bread, but Naomi recognizes that those days are over.
Though Obasan has just lost her husband, she still adopts a caretaking role for Naomi, welcoming her into the kitchen with a cup of tea. This speaks to Obasan’s instinct to consider others before herself, which also causes her to grieve internally rather than sharing her sadness with Naomi. Uncle’s death is also beginning to bring up distant memories for Naomi, as thinking about his baking prompts her to recall her childhood with Uncle and Stephen.
Themes
Obasan explains that she didn’t know Uncle was dying when she brought him to the hospital, and because the nurses sent her home, she wasn’t at his side when he died. Naomi wonders what Uncle thought about in his last hours of life. Obasan speaks little about her late husband, and Naomi understands that silence is “the language of her grief.” She doesn’t know how to help Obasan, and she knows that Stephen travels too often to be of help. Obasan keeps repeating “Everything old,” referring to both her body and the home where she made a life with her husband.
Naomi wants to help her aunt as Obasan helps her, but Obasan’s dedication to keeping her feelings to herself stands in the way of the two women helping each other through their grief. That said, Naomi doesn’t judge Obasan’s silence as the wrong way to grieve––it’s just a way that Naomi can’t connect to.
Themes
