Our most recent topic of conversation in the ASTU classroom has revolved around the novel Obasan. Obasan, written by Joy Kogawa, follows the protagonist Naomi who is a school teacher unhappily going through her life. It is not until the death of her Uncle Isamu that she is confronted with her past. We see this struggle between Naomi’s inclination to stay silent just as her Obasan does and the push from her Aunt Emily who advocates for speaking openly. Each of these is a way in which the family copes with the trauma in their past. On Tuesday we had the privilege to visit the Rare Books Library and explore the original documents which included Joy Kogawa’s source materials and drafts of her short stories and poems.

In English classes it is not uncommon to focus on the interior of a novel such as focusing on motifs, themes, characters and character development, etc. Yet, a book does not and should not be seen in isolation. To be quite frank, I was not a huge fan of this novel originally, but after going on the field trip I felt that it gave me a newfound appreciation for Obasan. Seeing the amount of research and effort Kogawa had put into this novel made me respect her much more. I think it can be easy to criticise an author’s, and artists in general, work without acknowledging the work that went into the making of that piece. It was very interesting to be able to have a sneak peek of Kogawa’s process, almost as if taking a look inside her brain when she was writing Obasan. To me being able to see her process of writing her novel exhibits how intentional and scrupulous the narrative is. It also shows the evolution of her ideas and what Kogawa felt was the most important aspects to include in her book.

While this novel is not a memoir it is highly indicative of Kogawa’s experience as a child. Having the opportunity to see the historical documents she used to write the novel gave me a higher sense of credibility to the experiences that the characters in the book experienced. The characters are fictional yet are based in facts. They are a mere representation of the experiences that far too many Japanese Canadians faced. Moreover, seeing the actual letters of the publishing companies and the rejection letters she received made me much more aware of the arduous process that writing takes. Obasan is clearly a novel held in high esteem but yet it took time to refine it to that point. One piece in particular from the Rare Books Library that stuck out to me was the Oberon Press document. It gave Kogawa feedback on her novel while expressing that the characters needed more depth and that her draft focused too much on history as opposed to telling a story. My initial thoughts of this were that of defensiveness, perhaps that was the Kogawa’s intention after all. This led me to wonder, how much of Kogawa’s story that she wanted to be told was actually told?

Joy Kogawa is obviously a very accomplished author and has made quite a resounding impact on the attitude toward the reconciliation process with the Canadian government. Obasan focuses much of the novel around the notion of coping with trauma and the diametrically opposed ways of doing this: through silence or through speaking out. The novel often advocates for silence and glorifies it in a sense, such as how Obasan is portrayed as being wise, but ultimately speaking out is what seems to be the best method. This is backed up by the fact that in the end the novel was published. Obasan is a great example of the profound impact that literature can have on a community and the way it can be utilised as a tool for remembering and reconciling trauma. Archiving history is so important, one so we do not forget the past but so we have an understanding of why things are the way they are, since as we know, the present is shaped by the past. This novel can be seen as highly pertinent even still today with the xenophobia that is poisoning the American political culture. When reading Obasan I found it perplexing that such a thing could ever happen, yet something of a similar level is happening right by us. With the Muslim ban taking place, it is more important than ever to look to our past, reflect and recognise not to repeat the same mistakes.