Obasan

EN3041/3051 Novel Study Assignment Danielle Quansoon //Obasan// by Joy Kogawa

Context: On December 7, 1941, Canada declared war on Japan; following this, the Canadian government confiscated and sold all Japanese Canadian fishing boats, property and possessions, forcing them to separate from their families and move to labour camps, as they were suspected of spying on non-Japanese Canadians, and sending sensitive information to Japan. When the War ended, Japanese Canadians continued to suffer this mistreatment for four more years. Joy Kogawa was born in 1935 in Vancouver. During World War II, the Canadian government confiscated her family’s home, as it did the homes of thousands of Japanese Canadians. Ordered inland, Kogawa’s family moved to an internment camp in Slocan, B.C. After the war ended, the government forced Kogawa’s family to move to Coaldale, Alberta, like many Japanese Canadians. Kogawa participated in the redress movement, which sought compensation for interned Japanese Canadians; $21,000 was allocated to each surviving Japanese Canadian interned during World War II in 1988, as well as reinstated Canadian citizenship for every Japanese Canadian deported to Japan during the war years. Her work is deeply influenced by the Japanese Canadian World War II experience.

Joy Kogawa Synopsis: //Obasan // tells the story of the Japanese Canadian internment during World War II through the eyes of Naomi Nakane. The novel begins in 1972, when Naomi, a schoolteacher in the predominantly white town of Cecil, Alberta, learns that her uncle has passed away. Naomi must go to see Uncle’s widow, Obasan, which means aunt in Japanese. During the visit, Naomi receives a package from Aunt Emily, her mother’s sister. The package contains a book of letters that Emily had written to Naomi’s mother, who disappeared during Naomi’s childhood. The letters describe the terrible conditions that Naomi and her family, like all Japanese Canadians at this time, had to endure, following the declaration of the War. Their possessions were confiscated and they were forced to move to internment camps. She begins to recall major events in her childhood: her family’s house in Vancouver, which they were forced from, her new home in Slocan, an abandoned mining town, with Obasan and Uncle, being molested by their neighbour, Old Man Gower, her mother’s visit to Japan to see her ill grandmother, which she never returned from, the racism her and her brother, Stephen, encountered as children, her paternal grandparents’ imprisonment, and constantly asking her relatives for answers, but failing to get a response. As her remaining family members are reunited after Uncle’s death, Naomi finally begins to understand her mother’s disappearance. Naomi’s childhood was surrounded by silence, now that her and Stephen are no longer children, the unspeakable can now be spoken about.



a) In what grade level/course would you teach this text? Are there other courses for which it might also be appropriate? I would teach this text in a grade 10 Academic English class, as this is the year that students must take Canadian History and learn about World War II. Although the subject matter is somewhat complex, students learn the context of World War II in Canadian History and the novel supports the idea that Canadian History is multi-faceted. The novel’s length is fair for the grade 10 level, as well as the novel’s themes and messages.

b) What are the main ideas/issues/teaching points which you would emphasize when teaching the text? (Consider the knowledge possibilities: social, topic, cultural, textual). Like many great works of literature, //Obasan// does not reject cultural stereotypes, but works with them, exaggerating, reversing and complicating them. Because there are sometimes aspects of truth in stereotypes of ethnicity or nationality, which makes them powerful and dangerous, authors need to correct them and play with them in order to challenge them and comment on the situation. The stereotypes in //Obasan// would be the focus of my teaching. Social Knowledge – issues of social justice are predominant throughout the novel. The stereotype and idea of Canada as a tolerant, multicultural country is challenged here, as the government sanctioned racism, dispersal, and assimilation of its own citizens. This can lead to discussion on how Canada has treated other minorities throughout its his tory. Cultural Knowledge – the lasting effects of the trauma manifest themselves in various ways throughout the novel, which are exhibited through another stereotype; that of silence in the Japanese culture. This idea is both assumed and rejected in the depiction of Naomi’s two aunts. Obasan proves the stereotype of silence, whereas Emily refuses to stay silent. By writing the novel, Kogawa is like Aunt Emily in her refusal to stay silent about the injustice. Textual Knowledge – although some Japanese words are used, they can be understood in context and the novel uses simple language. The story is told from the first-person perspective of Naomi. It begins in the ‘present’, but there are many flashbacks to Naomi’s childhood. Topic – topics that can be studied are World War II, the biases of history, and the immigrant experience in Canada.

c) What are the issues/challenges you might encounter teaching the text? An issue that I could encounter when teaching this text is that there will most definitely be students who have dealt with many of the same issues Naomi and her family had to overcome. These issues may hit close to home for students; however, by talking about these issues in a classroom setting, I believe we can create new meaning for these experiences. I also foresee an issue with a female protagonist for male students. Because the text has autobiographical elements of Kogawa’s life and is based on real events, I believe the male students could overlook that detail.

d) Describe one possible assignment/activity which you could use when teaching the text. Human Rights Committees: Students will be divided into groups of four to research human rights and how the stereotype of Canada as a multicultural mosaic has been challenged throughout our history. Each group will be given a cultural group that has been mistreated by the Canadian government. The assignment will be for the group to do a research presentation on the cultural group and their mistreatment. The students will be expected to reference at least two secondary sources, and include a visual resource (video, poster, pamphlet, etc.) in their 20-minute presentation. After offering the historical context, students will have the chance to rewrite history and act as Human Rights Activists for the cultural group. Students will then write a reflection on the text/assignment for individual marks. The related curriculum expectations for this assignment are: Oral Communication – “By the end of this course, students will communicate orally for a range of purposes, using language appropriate for the intended audience” (71) and Writing – “By the end of this course, students will locate and select information to appropriately support ideas for writing, using a variety of strategies and print, electronic, and other resources, as appropriate” (76).

I truly believe that this is a novel that every Canadian should read, and I hope each of you will read it and consider teaching it in your classrooms.

Works Cited: Kogawa, Joy. __Obasan__. Toronto: Penguin Canada, 1981. Ministry of Education. __The Ontario Curriculum Grades 9 and 10: English__. Ontario: Queen's Printer, 2007.