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Obasan Characters

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In the powerful novel, Obasan by Joy Kogawa, the main character of the novel explains her life as a Japanese-Canadian in Canada. From the few chapters that I have read I like the part where Naomi, the main character gives more details about her family that used to be intimate. From her mother side Dr.Kato is her grandfather and Mrs.Kato her grandmother. Her parental grandparents are Mr. and Mrs.Nakane . Naomi’s grandfather moved to Canada in 1893 as a boatbuilder. After he settled in, he managed to have his own shop and married his cousins widow, Uncle Isamu’s mother. Her Uncle married Ayyako, who had two miscarriages and was unable to have children. Other than Ayyako, Naomi has another aunt, Emily who lives in Vancouver. She is also a teacher …show more content…
A family picture briefly describes their beliefs, values and tensions. It is understood that all of the marriages were arranged in the family except Naomi’s parents marriage. Even though the fact that their marriage wasn't arranged upset Mr.Nakanes, but the birth of his grandson satisfied him, “ But then when Stephen was prematurely born, it was Grandpa Kato who spent the most time ogling his tiny red face looking for evidence of himself. A male child at last” (24) In this novel Naomi describes Stephen’s birth as an event that brought happiness in the family but when she was born all the unfortunate things happened and the family got scattered, “ And I was born. And after that? After that-there was the worrying letter from Grandma Kato’s mother in Japan-and there were all the things that happened around that time. All the things…” (25). Clearly Naomi believes that she is a bad luck for the family and is jealous of Stephen. The way Naomi describes her uncle’s job as a boat builder is very expressive and sends a message that he belonged there and what he did for a living was also his passion, “But the sea was his constant companion. He understood its angers, its whisperings, its generosity” (21). This foreshadows the struggle that uncle Isamu faces after being taken away and not being able to sail again. Uncle certainly missed the sea and sailing and is deeply hurt by not being able to do what he is

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