obasan
...e another example of this when Naomi recalls a situation involving her mother and a young boy from her past. Naomi's mother tells her that if she tries to hide from the boy, then he will probably laugh at her. To Noami, there is no worse shame then being laughed at. "She whispers that the boy will laugh at me if I hide. Laugh? There was no worse horror." (Kogawa, 1983, p.69) From the same incident another very strong Japanese custom becomes apparent. The reason why Naomi wished to hide was because of the fact that the young boy was staring at her. Throughout the entire book, Kogawa reinforces just how important the Japanese consider the eyes to be. In this case, for Naomi, the eyes of the young boy are harsh and judgmental "I am mortified by the attention" (Kogawa, 1983, p.51). Very shortly afterwards we again see the discomfort felt by making eye contact with a stranger "When our eyes meet, he grins and winks. I turn away instantly, startled into discomfort again by eyes. But a stare? Such lack of decorum, it is clear, is as unthinkable as nudity on the street" (Kogawa, 1983, p.51). There are countless other examples of just how intimidating eye contact could be for the Japanese, something that most Canadians would not think twice about. Eyes could also trigger many satisfying emotions as well however, as we see in the following example of how Naomi perceives her mothers eyes. Her eyes are steady and matter of fact - the eyes of Japanese motherhood. They do not invade and betray. They are there to protect, shielding what is hidden most deeply in the heart of a child. (Kogawa, 1983, p.63) Naomi continues to recall various events that took place through Aunt Emily's writings. The first major loss of a family member that she could remember, was her very own mother. Her mother returned to Japan to look after her grandmother. Although Naomi could sense that something was wrong, she was still too young to understand. Naomi then recalls the horrible way that her grandparents, as well as other family members were also being taking away. Naomi remembers how much of her family was shipped of to horrible camps and how most of her family was split up. She remembers not understanding the tension that existed, nor does she fully understand it today. Naomi thinks back on how a curfew existed that prevented Japanese from being out after a certain hour. " The curfew Auntie!" he is calling. "Look how dark it is. Hurry! The Police!" (Kogawa, 1983, p.82). Emily's writings also expose the cruelty of the accommodations that the Japanese were forced to share "Everyone crammed into two buildings like so many pigs" (Kogawa, 1983, p. 98) and the struggle that existed to simply get enough food. Even with all of these injustices exposed in Aunt Emily's writings, perhaps the most shocking development was the publics reaction to the way the Japanese were being treated. Most simply ignored what was happening to these innocent people, while others actually begrudged the few basic necessities that were provided for them. The pure hell that results is kept "hush hush" from the public, who are already kicking about the "luxury" given to Japs. (Kogawa, 1983, p.99) Perhaps the most memorable form of the prejudices faced by Japanese for Naomi, was the constant turmoil that was directed at her from other classmates. She remembers walking with her brother when two classmates begin teasing them "C'mon ya gimpy Jap!" (Kogawa, 1983, p.167). The racism becomes so bad that Naomi's friends are not aloud to play with her because of her race. Eventually anywhere the Japanese Canadians went they felt persecuted and felt as if they did not belong, even though they were as much Canadian as anyone else. It is likely for this very reason that the importance of home and safety are linked together. We find out that Japanese Culture puts great distinction between inside a...