It takes no more than an average history class to learn about the horrible tortures undergone by many Jews and Americans throughout World War 11. It is however upon rare occasion that an American learns of the unnecessary pain, torture, grief, and anguish thrown into the lives of the Japanese. Even, upon rare occasion, suffering was shown as statistics and it took a book like Obasan to reveal this horror onto a personnel level.
Obasan, is a novel based upon the tortured life of poet, and author Joy Kogawa. Joy Kogawa wrote Obasan to inform the world of the hell she and her family were put through. The book allows us to quantum leap into Joy's tattered soul and see her side of the story.
Naomi, the protagonist, never seems to bare the chance to be a child. Neglected by her older brother Stephen at a young age, she was inclined to live up to extremely high expectations. Also, at a young age her mother left her and the family in Canada to go to Japan to take care of Naomi's grandmother. When the war started the family was split in two.
