Abstract
This paper shows how Kogawa uses a finely balanced set of techniques in the journal/diary form to write "Obasan". The writer is a big fan of the writer and her writing style and points out a number of reasons why she used these techniques to deliver the dramatic effect. The paper includes a few comparisons to other diary-style literary pieces including "The Diary of Adrian Mole" and others.

From the Paper
"Perhaps the most obvious structural aspect of Kogawa's use of the journal/diary form in Obasan is her manipulation of time. In a method similar to that employed by Michael Ondaatje in The English Patient, Kogawa tells the story from the point of view of a tortured adult in the present viewing defining moments in his or her past through vivid flashbacks. In contrast to Ondaatje, Kogawa's flashbacks extend right through to early childhood and are expressed both innocently (from the child's point of view) as well as analytically (from the adult Naomi's point of view)."

Tags:canadian, discrimination, internment, japanese, war, world, wwii

Abstract
This paper is about Joy Kogawa's "Obasan" and individual vs. collective attempts to overcome suffering. Kogawa's novel was published in 1981, a time when the experience of the Japanese in Canada and the United States during World War II was being talked about a good deal. The author was herself interned during the War, like thousands of Canadian Japanese people who lived in coastal areas of the Province of British Columbia.

Abstract
Joy Kogawa's novel, "Obasan", deals with a very painful chapter in Canadian-Japanese history. But more than that, it reveals very much about Japanese tradition and culture through the eyes of one woman. Kogawa's portrayal of a people's plight through this novel demonstrates her understanding of this historical reality. Her narrative is profound and enables the reader to not only experience the Japanese Canadian's reality during the Second World War, but to also see how tradition lives on throughout the ages.

Abstract
Joy Kogawa's "Obason" tells a story that is both familiar to people living in the Western United States and yet subtly different, for hers is the story not of the displacement and internment of Japanese-Americans "a story that is by now relatively well known" but of Canadians of Japanese ancestry. The paper analyzes Kogawa's book, focusing on the protagonist, Naomi and her life as a Japanese living in World War Two Canada. The paper shows how "Obasan" uses a combination of personal narrative, lyrical outpourings, official letters and dreams to protest the treatment of Japanese-Canadians during World War II.

From the Paper
"Throughout this novel "as is also true of much of the literature written by Japanese-Americans about the internment of themselves and their families during the war" runs the question of why they should be singled out for such treatment. This question is at the same time both valid and yet also troublingly naive. While it is certainly true that the Japanese-Americans and Japanese-Canadians who were interned were loyal citizens of their New World countries, they were also recent immigrants of a country that had attacked the United States. Japanese-Canadians were not the only ones to bear prejudice during World War II, for Germans and Italians often faced racist actions against themselves as well and neither Germany nor Italy had attacked the United States."

Tags:British, Columbia, Pearl, Harbor

Abstract
This paper compares and contrasts two stories that relate to the immigrant experience in Canada, and in particular how the authors challenge and then change the readers perspective about racial and ethnic stereotypes. The two stories chosen are an excerpt from "Itsuka", by Joy Kogawa, a Japanese Canadian writer, and "Grappling", by Vinita Srivastava, a Canadian writer of South Asian origin. The writer explains that the passage from "Itsuka" is a fictional story of a group of second generation Canadians experiencing the real historical event when the Government of Canada officially apologized to Japanese Canadians for the way that they were treated during World War II.

From the Paper
"This paper will compare and contrast two stories that relate to the immigrant experience in Canada, and in particular how the authors challenge and then change the readers perspective about racial and ethnic stereotypes. The two stories chosen are an excerpt from "Itsuka", by Joy Kogawa, a Japanese Canadian writer, and "Grappling", by Vinita Srivastava, a Canadian writer of South Asian origin. The passage from "Itsuka" is a fictional story of a group of second generation Canadians experiencing the real historical event when the Government of Canada officially apologized to Japanese Canadians for the way that they were treated during World War..."

Tags:immigrant experience, canadian experience, stereotyp

Abstract
This essay offers an analysis of the character Naomi in the Canadian novel "Obasan," by Joy Kogawa that tells the story of a young girl experiencing the turmoil of the segregation of the Canadian-born Japanese during WWII. This novel explores different experiences faced by the Canadians of Japanese heritage, such as being forced from their homes and being segregated from the rest of the population.

From the Paper
"This paper discusses the character Naomi in the novel "Obasan" by Joy Kogawa. Naomi is an example of a Canadian, who, due to her Japanese heritage, is exiled from her home in Vancouver, British Columbia and sent to the ghost town of Slocan. Along with members of her family, Naomi experiences repeated harassment and cruelty from others, including the Canadian government. Due to Naomi's difficult living conditions, as well as the disappearance of her mother, Naomi's character is affected, as well as her role throughout the novel. The Japanese-Canadians during World War II were gradually stripped of all their rights."

Tags:obasan, joykogawa, naomi

Abstract
This paper examines and analyzes Joy Kogawa's 1981 novel, "Obasan". The author discusses how one character from the book dealt in different ways with the traumatic experiences and alienation of Japanese-Canadians during and after WWII.

Abstract
This paper is a critical review of the book "Obasan" by Joy Kogawa. It summarizes that the book is based on the experiences of Japanese-Canadians during World War II and how they were treated by the Canadian government. The paper discusses the plot and characters. It also explores the themes of the book including racism.

From the Paper
""Obasan" by Joy Kogawa is a novel based on her experiences as a third-generation Japanese-Canadian child growing up in Canada during World War II. A witness to the racism directed towards those of Japanese descent by the Canadian government. The story is told partly in real time and partly in flashbacks as the now grown Naomi, a school teacher in Cecil Alberta, returns to Granton for her uncle's funeral. She stays with her Obasan aunt, his widow and while there she delves into her past through ..."

Tags:book, review

Abstract
This paper provides a review of Joy Kogawa's "Obasan and Chang-rae Lee's "Native Speaker" to determine how the Asian characters in these works find themselves isolated from their new lands and how they try to cope. A summary of the research is presented in the conclusion.

From the Paper
"The emigration of large numbers of Asians to America is certainly not a new phenomenon, but the cultural processes that served to shape the individual experiences of the Asian community have been similar. Since the end of World War II, the United States has paid reparation and extended an apology to Japanese-Americans who were interred in camps following the attacks on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Many observers may not know, though, that Canada used the same approach with its Japanese Canadians. Kogawa's Obasan is about Japanese Canadians and the numerous injustices they suffered during and after World War II. These forces served to isolate this family from the mainstream Canadian society, just as Henry Park's strict Korean heritage prevented him from being readily assimilated into the larger mainstream society and seeing things eye-to-eye with his influential father."

Tags:assimilation

Abstract
In Kogawa's novel, "Obasan", the identity of the Japanese Canadian is an identity portrayed as a constant struggle between the spaces which lie between being Japanese and with the agony of trying to understand the Canadian contexts within which this family finds itself. This is the line which both separates the Japanese from the White Canadians, and the line which brings the Japanese into a relationship with Canadians, brought together and joined by a line which is not always visible, but which is drawing on the tensions of a shared history.