Silence versus Articulation in “Obasan” by Joy Kogawa

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“Obasan” is the first novel in a series of historical publications by Joy Kogawa. Kogawa’s “Obasan” is relatively related to her experiences with the internment of Japanese citizens in Canada during World War II. At the height of internment, Kogawa was six years old, one year younger than the narrator in “Obasan” was. Just like Naomi’s family, Kogawa’s family moved around a lot during World War II. “Obasan” is one of the most politically significant books in Canada. The book was published in 1981, and it addresses the issue of reparation to Japanese-Canadian citizens.

Kogawa confronts the silence of internment victims in Canada. The author presents readers with two contrasting types of victims. Some internment victims remain silent while another group is articulate about the injustices of the Canadian government. Silence and articulation are the two prominent issues in “Obasan.” Consequently, Kogawa uses silence and articulation as key symbols in her book. The symbols of silence and articulation are exemplified in the book using several characters and scenes. This paper will focus on a few scenes to examine Kogawa’s use of the symbols of silence and articulation in “Obasan.”

From the onset, the author places the symbols of silence and articulation side by side. In one scene in the book, the author notes that her two aunts are quite distinct. According to the author, her aunts are different because “one lives in sound, the other in stone…Obasan’s language remains deeply underground, but Aunt Emily…a crusader” (Kogawa 32). The author uses the phrase ‘to live in stone’ to signify the magnitude of Obasan’s silence.

A stone has no voice of its own, and it is also quite impossible to get any sounds from it. Obasan is content living a life in which she does not express her basest feelings and thoughts through words. Obasan does not inform Naomi that Japanese-Canadian citizens are being persecuted, and she (Naomi) only learns about it from “whispers and frowns and too much gentleness” (Kogawa 73). Consequently, Kogawa presents Obasan as the ultimate symbol of silence. For instance, Obasan refuses to inform Naomi that her mother was hurt and disfigured by the nuclear explosion in Nagasaki.

Naomi learns of this development several years later through letters and correspondences. The narrator notes that “Obasan’s mode of grieving when her husband dies is through the language of silence” (Kogawa 220). According to the narrator, Naomi is an icon of Japanese women who are defined by their ‘serving hands’ and live in ‘silent territory.’

On the other hand, Aunt Emily is the ultimate symbol of articulation. According to the narrator, Emily is ‘not like a woman’ (Kogawa 36). To Naomi, Emily is the ultimate symbol of articulation because she is more aggressive than most of the women she has come across. In addition, Emily is involved in protests that are mostly dominated by men. The narrator notes that Emily has dedicated the majority of her life to activism. Consequently, the author presents Aunt Emily as the ultimate symbol of articulation. Furthermore, Aunt Emily’s articulation is presented in sharp contrast with Obasan’s silence. For example, it is “Aunt Emily, who urges Obasan and Uncle Sam to inform Stephen and Naomi about the fate of their mother” (Kogawa 106).

When Naomi is a grown-up, she is constantly reminded by her Aunt Emily to always remember and articulate her voice against the persecution she witnessed as a child. In the course of the unfolding story, Naomi is torn between adopting Obasan’s silence and embracing Aunt Emily’s articulacy. The author explains why Emily is an important symbol of articulation. According to Emily, “you are your history…if you cut any of it off, you’re an amputee… don’t deny the past… remember everything…if you’re bitter, be bitter…denial is gangrene” (Kogawa 49). Henceforth, Aunt Emily becomes the most prominent symbol of articulation throughout the story.

There are two kinds of silence that are presented by the author. The first kind of silence is the one that is not subject to change. The other kind of silence is the one that can turn to articulation at any time. In the first scenes of Obasan, the narrator is expressing silence that ‘will not’ speak. The narrator is in Obasan’s house, and she is going through a stack of old documents. In the scene at Obasan’s house, the narrator considers ‘the efforts of her Aunt Emily to be futile.’ According to Naomi, “like cupid Aunt Emily aimed for the heart, but the heart was not there” (Kogawa 40).

However, deep down Naomi’s psyche, she is only afraid of the past and the effects of her memories. Naomi constantly claims that she cannot afford to unravel the past because it is capable of ‘drowning’ her. Nevertheless, as the book’s plot unfolds, Naomi starts to be more appreciative of articulacy. Her journey to confront her silence begins when she starts gathering and unraveling the past documents. In the end, Naomi reckons that “what is right is right…what is wrong…health starts somewhere” (Kogawa 183). These words are sentiments that are in agreement with Aunt Emily’s views about the dangers of silence.

On the other hand, there is another form of silence that is exhibited by both Obasan and Uncle Sam. Naomi’s aunt and uncle have embraced silence as a redeeming quality, and they do not intend to abandon it in favor of articulation. This form of silence is often referred to as ‘rock silence,’ and it cannot be changed. For instance, Obasan uses silence as a solution to each of her problems. Even when Obasan is faced by great misfortunes such as the death of her husband, she uses silence as a tool during her grief period. The author alludes to the fact that the ‘silence that cannot speak’ is a product of Japanese traditional upbringing.

For this reason, most of the people who protest against the internment of Japanese citizens are from the second generation of individuals who were born and raised in Canada. The silence that is likened to a rock can only be broken when individuals embrace the past and learn the facts of their persecution. According to the narrator, all she heard from the adults was silence and whispers. The silence ‘that cannot speak’ kept Naomi from learning the truth when her family was moving from place to place within Canada.

An example of a scene that deeply symbolizes articulation is the one that involves Naomi and her hen. As a child, Naomi “puts some newly acquired yellow chicks into a pen with a white mother hen” (Kogawa 183). However, the hen reacts by attacking the chicks. This scene can be mistaken to be indicative of plain racism. The white hen could be representing the majority of Canada while the yellow chicks could be signifying the Japanese immigrants. Nevertheless, the scene with the chicks represents how animals articulate their inability to nurture foreign elements. Unlike animals, human beings’ articulation of aggression is rooted in hypocrisy.

The Canadian-Japanese citizens had been living in Canada as equal citizens and in harmony with all the other races. However, the events that transpired in Pearl Harbor during World War II changed the reception of Japanese-Canadian citizens in Canada. Suddenly, citizens of Japanese origin were seen as enemies by their ‘mother hen’ (Canadian entities). It is important to note that the instinct to turn on citizens of Japanese origin was not as natural as the hen’s rejection of white chicks. When Stephen is maiming butterflies with his clutches, he articulates his actions by claiming that they are “bad…they eat holes in your clothes” (Kogawa 123).

It is clear that Stephen is angry about his situation but he turns his anger to the butterflies. Instead of articulating the real issues, most Canadians expressed their anger by persecuting the Japanese. Consequently, unlike animals who articulate their distastes in a straightforward manner, human beings articulate theirs through hypocritical cruelties.

The symbols of articulation and silence form the basis of Kogawa’s “Obasan”. The main character moves from an experience of silence and embraces articulation in the end. The title character is the most prominent symbol of silence in “Obasan”. Together with several other first generation Japanese citizens, Obasan adopts a culture of silence and ignorance over past injustices. On the other hand, Emily is the ultimate symbol of articulation. Throughout her book, Kogawa presents several scenes that provide the readers with a symbolic outlook of silence and articulation. “Obasan” is one of the most historically significant literary works on World War II internment in Canada.

Works Cited

Kogawa, Joy. Obasan. NY: Anchor Books, 1981. Print.

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Silence versus Articulation in “Obasan” by Joy Kogawa

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