Japanese Internment

1
Japanese Internment

• 1941, December 7--the bombing of Pearl Harbor
• 1942--evacuation of Canadian Japanese (Nikkei)
  from the Pacific Coast--the great mass movement
  in the history of Canada (Obasan 92-93)--21,000
  people moved
• 1949--Nikkei allowed to return to B.C.
• 1980s--redress movement
• 1988--formal apology to Nikkei 21,000 (Cdn.) to
  the survivors
• differences from the relocation of Japanese
  Americans--dispersal of family members--men sent
  to road camps in the interior of B.C., sugar beet
  projects on the Prairies, POW camp in Ontario

2
Joy Kogawa--Biographical Sketch

• born in Vancouver, B.C. in 1935
• relocated to Slocan and Coaldale, Alberta during
  and after WWII
• Selected Publications
• Obasan. 1983.
• Woman in the Woods. 1985.
• Naomi's Road. 1986.
• Itsuka. 1993.
• The Rain Ascends. 1995.

3
Awards for Obasan

• Books in Canada, First Novel Award.
• Canadian Authors Association, Book of the Year
  Award.
• Periodical Distributors of Canada, Best Paperback
  Fiction Award.
• Before Columbus Foundation, The American Book
  Award.

4
Obasan--Family Trees

Grandpa Nakane
Kato
Grandma Nakane
Isamu (Sam) 1889-1972
Ayako (Obasan) 1891-
Father (Mark)
Mother
Emily 1916-
Stephen 1933-
Naomi 1936-
stillborn
5
Timeline

• 1893--Grandpa Nakane arrived in Canada
• 1941--Mother returned to Japan
• 1942--Vancouver Hastings Park prison
• 1945--the bombing of Nagasaki
• 1951--moved to Granton
• 1954--the first visit to the coulee
• 1972--narrative present--Uncles death

6
Imagery of Stone

• What is the significance of the stone imagery?
• The bible--a white stone--a new name written
• epigraph--The word is stone.
• Uncles stone bread (15-16)
• Discuss other imagery in the novel
  --(ex) the coulee/ the ocean/ uncle and
  Chief Sitting Bull/ the family as a knit blanket
  (24-25)

7
Gender and National Identities

• How does Naomi describe herself and the two aunts
  and why?
• Naomi--sansei--spinster, tense (9), numb (41)
• Obasan--issei--ancient(14, 18-19), language of
  grief--silence (17)
• Emily--nisei-- energetic, visionary (38), word
  warrior (39), white blood cells (41)/ Canadian
  identity--This is my own, my native land
• Mother--kibei--born in Canada, raised in Japan--
  yasashi kokro (56)

8
Language and Silence

• To the issei, honor and dignity is expressed
  through silence, the twig bending with the
  wind.The sansei view silence as a dangerous kind
  of cooperation with the enemy.
  --Joy
  Kagawa in an interview with Susan Yim

9
Memories

• Imagery of memories
• A yellow wallet-sized ID card (29)
• spider web (29-31)
• Naomis first dream (33-35)
• the parcel--like the stone bread (37)/ B.Good
  letter (44-45)/ Emilys manuscript--The Story of
  the Nisei in Canada /newspaper clippings/ the
  two letters in Japanese
• the leftovers (54)
• To remember or not to?