Obasan and the Female Role

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Obasan: Female Role Models A girl’s largest role model is the women around her. Their presence and influence has the ability to shape their world either negatively or positively. In the novel Obasan, written by Joy Kogawa, Aunt Emily, Obasan and Nesan are the main females that play a role in Naomi’s life. Aunt Emily is the strong, confident Japanese- Canadian woman. Obasan is the protective caregiver, and Nesan is her once loving mother. Nesan’s absence along with the roles of the rest of the other woman all hold a negative effect on Naomi’s growth as an individual and play an important part in Naomi’s painful search for self and cultural wholeness. Aunt Emily’s knowledge on the internment overwhelmed Naomi and led her to unintentionally push her to relive her childhood before she was ready. Obasan’s over protective parenting style and passive personality sheltered Naomi from the events that surrounded her. Nesan’s absence was a negative result of the Japanese internment that Naomi will always carry with her. Aunt Emily is a strong willed and confident Japanese Canadian who isn’t afraid to stand up for her rights and what she believes in. When she shares her knowledge on the Japanese internment she ends up overwhelming Naomi and accidently pushes her towards reliving her childhood before she intended. Aunt Emily filled Naomi's head with facts and information all at once; this caused her to become distressed. Naomi's feeling of being pressured becomes apparent when she questions her aunts motives. “Aunt Emily, are you a surgeon cutting at my scalp with your folders and your filing cards and you insistence on knowing all? The memory drains down the sides of my face, but it isn’t enough, is it? It’s your hands in my abdomen, pulling the growth from the lining of my walls, but bring back the anaesthetist turn on the ether clamp down the gas mask bring on the chloroform

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