Hello everyone, I hope the last week treated you all well.
Today’s blog will be focused on the lovely Joy Kogawa (Picture here: http://www.joykogawa.ca/uploads/1/0/1/1/10119078/7069_orig.jpg). Kogawa is a Canadian author and poet and she is mostly known due to her novel, Obasan. This book can be considered a semi-autobiography, because although the story and its characters are fictional, the events which transpire in throughout the novel are heavily inspired by Joy Kogawa’s own experiences. What experiences would these be, you ask? Those based on the Japanese internment in Canada. No doubt you’ve all heard of the American one during World War II, the one where American citizens of Japanese descent were forced to leave their homes and enter what can basically be called a work camp in order to “protect” the West Coast from invasion. Well, the same event occurred in Canada, but perhaps they had it worse. For while the Japanese-Americans were allowed to return to their homes, their Canadian counterparts received no such compensation and instead were forced to move East, leaving their homes and possessions behind. Kogawa wrote Obasan as an attempt to bring to light these crimes committed by the Canadian government against its own people and through hard work and dedication, the message came across.
There was overwhelming support for Kogawa when she published her book, a feat in and of itself, and many found themselves thanking her for the courage in putting this story out to the people. While in the UBC archives, I found many letters from people around the world thanking her for what she did, and expressing their admiration for her. These letters came in all shapes and sizes: Postcards, letters, poems, etc. Some even had students asking for her help in writing papers about her! It truly was touching seeing such happiness and appreciation in these letters (Although some were a bit hard to read). My favorite one came from a 5th grader who, in broken English, expressed sadness over the fact that Kogawa had to leave her home stating that: “Some people should be punched in the nose.” The really had me laughing for a long time! And the cherry on top was a drawing of himself, I assume, shouting: “Kill those turkeys!” It’ll be a long time before I forget that 5th grader from Ontario.
That’s all I got for the day, thank you so much for reading and today I recommend reading Obasan! It can get a bit slow, especially near the end, but it is a very important book and will leave you truly feeling the plight of these people. I leave its Wikipedia page here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obasan. Have a great week everyone!
Ha ha ha, I remember the 5th grade letter with “Kill those turkeys”
Probably my favourite document from all the fonds! Purely for the entertainment value.
But you know what? I totally agree that we should “punch them in the nose!”
If someone was forcing me out of my house I would totally punch them in the nose.
I agree that it was a lovely experience to go and visit the fonds. I also agree that Obasan can get slow.
Nice post. Good job!!
Hi Daniel, I’m glad that you were able to find some humour in the letters you were able to look through! What interests me the most is that a fifth grader had sent a letter to Joy Kogawa in regards to her novel Obasan. The reason why it intrigues me is that I, as an 18-year-old UBC Arts student, am only beginning to learn more about the atrocities that the Japanese-Canadians had had to face back in World War II. Yet this fifth grader (who’s, what, 10-11 years old?) has already read it, has already analyzed it, and has already felt the disparity of what Kogawa had felt when she wrote it.
I bring this up because I’m interested in your input, Daniel. Do you think that there should be a ‘filter’ to distinguish what books children should and should not read, based on the course material and their age? Like, should we tell our children that they cannot read a certain book just because they are too young and would therefore be too immature (for a lack of a better word) to comprehend what’s really going on?
Nevertheless, I think that providing readings at school (especially at an elementary level) that addresses these certain issues and having children interested in novels such as these opens the discussion even more than it already has, whether it be about forgetting versus remembering, the importance of preserving one’s culture, the benefits of staying silent, etc.
What’s your opinion? I’ll be waiting for your response!
Jackie
Hey Daniel,
You raised a very interesting point that I was not aware of in your blog. I had no idea that the Americans did the same thing as the Canadians in regards to the work camps. I was wondering if you could shed more light on the subject because this is the first i’m hearing of this happening outside of Canada, and of course disregarding the concentration camps in Germany. Where were these camps located and which nation started doing internments first?
Also when I was at the archives I found traces of a possible lover of Kogawa’s, I was wondering if you found anything along those lines. I found Kogawa more interesting after looking into her archives.
Thanks,
Cali