Silence Family Essay Example for Free

Silence Family EssaySilence are the words that are non said, rather t chick the words that are chosen. It is the fear of the lawfulness as well as hiding from it. In the novel Obasan by contentment Kogawa, silence is a part of a culture and is a larger part of a family. The character Naomi allows silence to over come her life, which allows her to remain tortured inside the internment camp of her own body. Although the family is living in a nonher country, the traditions to Japan are still very strong. In the U. S. silence is generally looked upon as passive while Japan it traditionally signals pensiveness, alertness, and sensitivity. Growing up with Obasan and her Uncle, Naomi was raised and taught to respect silence. Naomi remains extremely quiet about her childhood under the pleader of her aunt. A major truth she hides is her molestation. She was taught not to lash back at adults and to do what they say. At this moment, she learned dis-trust. The incidents with him happene d more than once, yet she remained silent.This, for Naomi, drew her apart from her mystify, departure something between them that could not be discussed or mentioned. Before this event, they had sort of a silent communication, and now she misses that. This is similar to the hen and chick incident where the mother hen pecks at the baby chicks. She now can see a tare between mother and daughter she couldnt see before. They are the eyes that protect, protect whats hidden most deeply in the heart of a child(p. 59).There was no longer this link between her and her mother after the shame of her losing innocence. Naomi remains silent for so long that, silence within her small body has grown large and powerful, (p. 14) just as it did for Obasan. She lives her life slimy after all she has been through but must remain silent about. Un akin Aunt Emily, Obasan believes that let looseing about and confronting the fact that the Canadians interned the Japanese will not bring about justice but only sadness, an emotion she does not express because the language of er grief is silence. She has learned it well, its idioms, and its nuances. (p. 14) Being raised by Obasan created the life Naomi has now. She lives in a world where she has no love in her life, or anyone to be honest with. tho for Naomi the silence could not continue when she seeks for the truth about her mother which she had all along. Naomi learns about her mothers tragedy through the letters between Grandma and Grandpa Kato she received from Emily.She has known that her mothers grave had been found but Naomi never knew that her mother was badly hurt in the bombings of Nagasaki when she was helping her cousin Setsuko with her new baby Chieko, who looked just like Emily. After the bombing Naomis mother and the baby were both in the hospital. Naomis mother was badly injured and the baby had leukemia. Since the baby looked like Naomi there was a connection to her and for the first time the communication between Naomi and her mother are open again.This allows Naomi to begin speaking to her, even though she was not there. But after reading those letters Naomi broke the silence because now she knows the truth and she can finally communicate. In Obasan, Naomi is tortured by the silence of the truth. She is unable to speak of what is true and can not find out what is real due to the absence of her mother and having to be risen by her Obasan. After she does learn the truth, she does not feel tortured any more because she can find the comfort of communication with her mother, a connection she has missed for years.