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
Once Mr. and Mrs. Barker depart, Obasan and Naomi doze off in the living room waiting for Emily and Stephen. Naomi dreams that she and her family are in a courtyard full of soldiers who have killed the Nakanes over and over in Naomi’s dreams. In the courtyard, she sees Mother dancing with a red rose in her mouth. Naomi tries to go to her mother, but her path is blocked by “the Grand Inquisitor,” who pries open Mother’s lips and Naomi’s eyes. When she wakes, Naomi wonders if Mother speaks to her through dreams to communicate the love that otherwise hides behind the silence of Mother’s disappearance.
This dream mirrors the one Naomi had in Chapter 6. Soldiers are once again a symbol of state violence. Now, unlike in Naomi’s earlier dream, she can do nothing to appease them. The Grand Inquisitor prying open Mother’s lips suggests a forceful attempt to break Mother’s silence, which challenges the depiction of silence as an external force foisted upon people. Naomi believes that Mother can send love to her and remain silent.
Themes
