Prompt Chosen: What does it mean to “live well”?
As Obasan once said, “Everyone someday dies”, so why try? Yes, people die, but there is another fact that many people do not know well. People also live. They have fulfilling and happy lives. A life filled with knowledge and a lack of ignorance of one’s memories and pains causes happiness. That type of life is what most people should try to strive for. More often than not, people are plagued with ignorance of the world around them, people may not even know most things about their own families. This may leave a large pang of curiosity and the desire to fulfill one’s life which is shown throughout the book, Obasan. Though sometimes, living well is hard, people may even fail to live well at first. Fear can prohibit someone from living a successful and fulfilling life and may come to affect them in the future. Most importantly, silence, the theme of Obasan is silence and it shows how silence can destroy an individual’s desire to live well.
Brief Context
The book, Obasan, takes place after the second World War where Naomi is remembering her past memories as she is searching through a package sent my her Aunt Emily after dealing with her beloved Uncle’s death. In the package she finds documents that truly exposes Naomi to who she really is, and has answers to questions she has been questioning since she was a young child.
Analysis
Living well is an illusion. People think that to live well, you must be happy. That is not the full story, happiness is a minor factor when it comes to living well. A life must be fulfilled. Fulfilling one’s life is to have a lack of ignorance by any means possible, that means that an individual must reconcile with their past. This definition that I just described is evident all throughout, Obasan. The first example of this is shown in the part where Naomi describes herself getting abused and molested by Old Man Gower. Naomi was ashamed of how she was treated by the old man, but she did not dare tell anyone. Naomi’s abuse was prolonged as a result of not being able to explain to anyone.
This incident with the old man can be related with the hen attacking the chicks. Naomi was the chick and the old man was the hen, Naomi was defenseless against the old man which is the cause of whyNaomi could not live well, because of her grief, suffering, and guilt all trapped up inside of her. She felt as if she were to blame herself which was not a fulfillment of life because Naomi was not free of suffering and ignorance of her memories and pains. She was always living in fear of this man and the people around her as a result of not getting any help. Not only did fear prohibit Naomi from living well, but silence was also the main cause of the suffering that Naomi went through.
On the other hand, Naomi did finally begin living well at the very end of the story. When she finished reading everything in Aunt Emily’s Parcel. That was it. She had no more questions to ask. She had all her answers to her questions. She surfaced every pain that was beheld in her life, such as her father and Grandpa Nakane dying. There was one thing at the end though, what happened to mother and Grandma Kato? This one question was prohibiting Naomi from living a good life, and she would give anything to receive an answer, but she did get an answer.
When it was revealed that her Mother and Grandma Kato had died in the Nagasaki Atomic Bombing, she was dumbstruck. Never had she known that this was how her questions about her life would be answered. Nevertheless, she would begin living well. Sad and gloomy thoughts cannot last a lifetime, but the desire of curiosity to know something is immortal. Finally, after a lifetime of secrecy, Naomi starts living well, her life is now without ignorance of the forces around her. The quote that proves that Naomi is starting to live well for the first time is, “If I hold my head a certain way, I can smell [the roses] from where I am.”
Roses represent life and beauty. Now that Naomi can smell the roses, she finally starts living a fulfilled life even though she has been plagued by bad news of her mother’s horrible death. These two reasons depict that living well depends on how an individual deals with their past memories and how one finds a way to abolish their ignorance regardless of the terrible consequences that may befall on individuals. Silence is often the downfall of many individuals and Naomi manages to finally open up at the end.
Sources
- Book: Obasan — Joy Kogawa
- Nuynh, Nina. “Recent Posts.” Nina Huynh, November 19, 2014. https://blogs.ubc.ca/ninatnhuynh/2014/11/19/the-making-of-obasan-the-significance-of-alternate-titles/.