Over the past couple of weeks, our ASTU class has been focusing on reading and discussing Joy Kogawa’s historical novel Obasan. Following a trip to the Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC) section of the UBC library, we were given the task of reflecting and writing about our findings at the Kogawa Fonds – a series of handwritten drafts for the book, rejection letters from publishers, letters exchanged while the internment of Japanese Canadian citizens was occurring and many other documents used as Obasan was being written. Many of us were surprised by the significant amounts of research and historical consideration that went into Joy Kogawa’s writing process, and were ultimately left with a greater understanding and newfound appreciation for the novel, as well as its author.
I believe that, by being given access to materials and documents that were part of the creation of Obasan, our class was also granted permission to see the novel beyond its finished product. As Lukas points out, this exploration allowed him “to understand the ideas that went through Kogawa’s mind while she was planning and writing the novel”. We were given a new perspective on the author that we would not have otherwise observed had we only read the book alone. Furthermore, Lukas stressed the levels of careful planning and thought that were put into this novel. Nejmo contributes to this argument by highlighting the importance of Kogawa’s several paper drafts to add “more depth regarding her experience as a Japanese-Canadian”. Had she not kept such documents, we would have also lost part of the history that is so carefully laid out in Obasan.
Many of us also found it to be quite shocking that, prior to being published, this novel was met with a great deal of reluctance and criticism – and began to reflect on why this could be. Several publishers argued that Kogawa’s book was simply not engaging enough, that the readers were simply not going to be able to establish a strong enough connection with its “misty” characters to keep reading. However, Silvana brings out an interesting argument to counteract such sayings as she states that “it is this precise mistiness, haziness, that comes with recalling one’s ghosts of old past, that portrays the story so well”. Traumatic events are, by nature, extremely difficult to think about, and even more challenging to retell. By making her characters seem “hazy”, Kogawa subtly highlights the difficulties of remembering her own trauma, the haziness of her recollection. She has trouble connecting with her past – and even more trouble writing it down and, as Silvana shows, that is the essence of Obasan.
Moreover, it was interesting too see how several students pointed out the connections they established between the internment of the Japanese Canadians and the suffering of the First Nations community, particularly when it comes to residence schools. Both groups, though at different times in history and with their own particular sets of difficulties, suffered in the hands of the Canadian government. As Julian describes his visit to Iqaluit (Nunavut’s capital) and the things he learned with the community, he points out the consequences of the residential school program and “generational trauma” it brought; many individuals have, even after being subjected to such horrendous events, turned to heavy drinking and substance abuse, as Julian notes, to cope with the memories of their past, or to attempt to erase them. With the residential schools, Julian points out cases in which mothers were forcefully separated from their daughters, much like Kogawa and her family members being drastically separated from each other during the war after years of being a “tight-knit” family. In both cases, we can see how the Canadian government played a huge role in the erasure of these communities’ cultures and voices – and as many of us pointed out, although apology statements and reparations have been put in order, the consequences and trauma of such events still find themselves very much present within these communities that were once much stronger in presence within our Canadian society. As Anjali notes, “most indigenous people believe that they have not received complete recognition from the Canadian government”, and the same can be said of the Japanese Canadian community. After years of being wrongfully targeted and made to follow drastic orders by their own government, both of these groups, to this day, have yet to feel fully compensated and have their suffering recognized by its own perpetrator.
Further, as we observe this “targeting” of minority groups in Canada, Leah presents a bold and reflective statement as she argues that “Caucasian people would never be ostracized like that in Canada”. Leah argues that, while we claim to live in a country that takes pride in its diversity, white privilege is very much present; the idea of a situation like the one faced by the Japanese Canadians being presented to the Caucasian population is almost unimaginable in today’s society. As she points out, if a white person reached out to the government for help, they would receive what they needed – unlike the thousands of innocent Japanese Canadian civilians the Canadian government turned its back on.
Finally, many of us, like Anjali and Julian, concluded their blog posts by highlighting the importance of history and memory of past mistakes when moving forward as a society to stop us from repeating them. Our stories of prejudice, as David puts it, serve as a “grim reminder of the cruelties of the past”. In order for us to prevent the reoccurrence of such horrendous acts against our own, we must begin by acknowledging the ones that have already taken place. On this note, the use of historical novels should be taken into consideration when remembering the past; they are, as Melody suggests , “a powerful tool in transmitting this knowledge [about history] to a new generation”. History, as she notes, has a tendency for repetition and, if we wish to prevent future generations from experiencing the pain and suffering their ancestors did, novels such as Obasan can serve as important reminders to our successors of the mistakes that were once made.
Works Cited – Links:
Anjali Bentley – https://blogs.ubc.ca/abentley/
David Lee – https://blogs.ubc.ca/davidscorner/
Julian Yau – https://blogs.ubc.ca/julianyau/
Leah Taylor – https://blogs.ubc.ca/leahtaylor/
Lukas Graf – https://blogs.ubc.ca/lukasblog/
Melody Yu – https://blogs.ubc.ca/melosastu100blog/
Nejmo Serraoui – https://blogs.ubc.ca/betterlatethannever/
Silvana Martinez Zapata – https://blogs.ubc.ca/silvanamastu/on-obasan/