Ready Reference Treatise: Obasan

By Raja Sharma

“Obasan” by Joy Kogaw was first published in 1981. The novel by this Japanese-Canadian author chronologically describes Canada’s internment and persecution of the Canadian citizens of Japanese descent during the Second World War.

The story is told from the perspective of a young child. The book was selected for the ‘One Book’ in Vancouver in 2005. It is often prescribed to the University students studying English courses on Canadian literature.

The book is also given place in Ethnic Studies and Asian American literature courses in the United States and several other countries where students study English literature.

The novel teems with highly emphatic imagery of stones, silence, and streams. The imagery is noticeable throughout the story. Throughout the story there is the presence of highly interesting dreams.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Jul 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310901966

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

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Ready Reference Treatise: Obasan

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: Obasan

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2015 Raja Sharma

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Chapter One: Introduction

Obasan by Joy Kogaw was first published in 1981. The novel by this Japanese-Canadian author chronologically describes Canada’s internment and persecution of the Canadian citizens of Japanese descent during the Second World War.

The story is told from the perspective of a young child. The book was selected for the ‘One Book’ in Vancouver in 2005. It is often prescribed to the University students studying English courses on Canadian literature.

The book is also given place in Ethnic Studies and Asian American literature courses in the United States and several other countries where students study English literature.

The novel teems with highly emphatic imagery of stones, silence, and streams. The imagery is noticeable throughout the story. Throughout the story there is the presence of highly interesting dreams.

The novel investigates highly significant themes such as memory and forgetting, prejudice, tolerance, justice, and identity, etc. It is noticeable that the author has often contemplated on these themes in her poetry as well.

Obasan is considered to be the author’s best-known work. The story revolves around a Japanese-Canadian family that lives through Second World War. It is definitely a work of fiction, but most of the events described in the novel are based on the author’s own life.

A historically accurate picture of the wartime experiences of the Japanese Canadian citizens of Canada have been presented in the story.

The author describes how the Japanese Canadians silently endured brutal mistreatment in Canada. They never voiced their anger and never stood up for their rights.

Through the present novel, the author has given voice to the silent Japanese Canadians who have remained quiet about the cruelty of racism for such a long time. The author seems to have registered her refusal to keep quiet.

Obasan has won several prestigious awards given in the field of literature. It was the winner of the Book of the Year Award given by the Canadian Authors Association. It was also the winner of the American Book Award presented by the Before Columbus Foundation.

It was declared to be one of the most important books in Canadian literary history by The Literary Reviews of Canada.

The Canadian government recognized the work of this Japanese Canadian author and made her a Member of the Order of Canada in 1986. She was also made a Member of the Order of British Columbia in 2006.

Chapter Two: Plot Overview

The year is 1972. Naomi Nakane is a middle school teacher. She