Hello readers,

In this blog post I would like to discuss trauma and pain stemming from negative experiences and discourse. This topic is not only an important issue in the book “Obasan” by Joy Kogawa, but it is also a serious issue that people are dealing with day to day, in our everyday lives. “Obasan” is still so relevant today, not only because it is an important work of Canadian Literature, but also due to the fact that it is essentially a true record of historical trauma. Japanese internment caused a great deal of trauma and pain for thousands of the families involved – And this pain and suffering did not simply go away when Japanese internment was over. Japanese people had to very slowly regain their rights back and fight for what was right. The redress movement was a movement to provide financial compensation for all of the Japanese people still alive prior to Japanese internment. Although this movement was instilled to help rehabilitate these people and to allow them to start their lives again, compensation cannot simply be provided for trauma. An apology is necessary in order to help aid the healing process, but it is in a sense putting a band aid on a very deep wound. It takes decades to regain the strength and equality of a society when something as tragic and unjust such as Japanese internment occurs.

In light of the issue of trauma in our globalizing world, the very recent elect of Donald Trump as President of the United States has caused a great deal of pain for millions of Americans, and even citizens of other countries around the world. Members of the nation-state are rightly-so dealing with fear of losing their voice in their own nation, and being prejudiced against, a concern that especially minorities are dealing with. To quote “Obasan”, “Aunt Emily says to Naomi, “As long as we have politicians and leaders and media people who feast on people’s fears, we’ll continue making scapegoats” (Obasan Page 35). People are trying to instill hope in the nation by upholding the “some day” mentality, also discussed in “Obasan.” By calling Donald Trump names including “bigot” and “Oompa Loompa,” people feel comforted by the fact that they are all mutually speaking up for an unjust politician. That being said, negative words do not help to spread greatness, and they do not help nations to heal from the trauma and pain caused by unjust politicians, and the corrupt ideologies stemming from Japanese Internment. The solutions that state that “some day” we will have a better President, and “some day” we will be a better nation, do not help with pain and trauma. Again, these are temporary band aids that will not fix anything in the long run. If we want to implement significant and positive change in our world on a global scale, we need to face the true facts about what is wrong, without letting these realities take over our lives. We must allow ourselves to feel pain and experience trauma, and relive the traumatic experiences by talking about them, like Naomi’s family finally does at the end of “Obasan.”

The key to getting through political unrest and traumatic suffering of any kind, is to acknowledge the issues at hand, and find the strength to take action and walk through the struggle, with a deep passion to cultivate change.