Joy Kogawa Obasan Symbolism

“Our lives begin to end the moment we become silent on matters that are important.” A brave man once said this—a man who changed society. Through countless protests, rallies, and speeches—from his loud impact—he was able to make a difference. This man was Martin Luther King Jr. He did not follow the dreary future that his ancestors left engraved for him, he decided to break free from the rut and create a better world. He knew that his future was not set in stone, and that could reform his fate. Within the novel, Obasan, by Joy Kogawa, the protagonist Naomi is quiet and ignores her past—a feat that she had picked up from Obasan, who raised her. As a third generation Japanese-Canadian who had experienced the torture of internment camps during …show more content…
Obasan is a motherly figure in Naomi’s life, and most of what Naomi has learned is from her. Obasan never cries, or displays her emotions, and instead represses them as a defense mechanism, which Naomi describes as stone. Naomi says, “I can cry for Obasan who has turned to stone” (237), to explain the grief she feels for Obasan. The stone is a prominent symbol when referring to Obasan, and the fact that she has turned to stone because she will not cry for anything—not even her husband’s death. This corresponds to the theme of silence and its devastating effects, as Obasan has bottled up sadness that is destroying her from the inside. Additionally, Obasan is not only a stone, but lives in stone. A still life is depicted when Naomi says, “How different my two aunts are. One lives in sound and the other in stone” (38). Comparing Aunt Emily to Obasan, they are clear foils of each other. Obasan lives in her silence, without ever confronting her emotions head on. Naomi contrasts her two aunts with stone and sound to emphasize how Obasan is suffering by herself, and how Aunt Emily is releasing her anger and frustrations. Furthermore, Obasan is a tradition Japanese woman who stays quiet about her troubles, and rarely speaks. For example, Naomi states, “Unless the stone bursts with speech, there is in my life, no living word” (27). Naomi is discussing how …show more content…
Starting off with the prologue of the novel, the stone is a prominent symbol that Naomi despises. Naomi states, “I hate the stillness, I hate the stone” (Prologue). She loathes the stone, how it never displays emotion and stays motionless. Through Obasan’s—the stone she has known all of her life-- stagnant lifestyle that she followed aimlessly, it demonstrates how Naomi’s character has grown to want sound, and truth in her life. Moreover, within Naomi’s childhood, there are particular scenarios where the stone is present. As a child, she is playing with Kenji and Stephen and as she recalls, “Kenji stands on the edge and tosses a stone high up and over the trees. ‘See, it’ll hit the chicken coop,’ he says. It’s a few seconds before we hear the faint crack of a rock hitting rock” (166). The stone is meant to represent the silence, and the chickens are the Japanese-Canadian’s cowardice. Most of them are keeping quiet on the matters that are important, and this mutual silence is hurting them as conveyed by the stone hitting the chicken coop. Their silence is inflicting their own wounds. Adding onto this, the throwing of the stone also appears in Naomi’s life shortly after this event. While walking home from school, as Naomi tells, “Percy has a handful of stones and throws them down the road. When he sees us, he calls out, ‘Hey Gimpy, where ya goin?’ … Stephen stands