Nearly all Japanese Canadians were arrested and oppressed in Canada during the 1900’s. In Joy Kogawa’s novel Obasan, the narrator reveals Aunt Emily’s experiences through the letters she writes during oppression and grief in Canada. Each letter and diary symbolises her protest and her strength in spite of oppression during this struggle for the Japanese Canadians in Canada.
When Aunt Emily is first mentioned in the novel, the narrator reveals her views about the “Nisei in Canada,” and her strength in protest through the manuscripts she writes. Aunt Emily knows “the Nisei in every mood/ and because of this intimacy with them, (she) shall discuss some of the accusation brought against them” (Kogawa 47). Aunt Emily writes this in her letter because the Nisei’s are treated badly in Canada. They are deprived from higher education, higher ranks and many other opportunities. They have no say in any decisions that the Canadians make but yet they are citizens of Canada and are Canadians too. Another example that reveals Aunt Emily’s strength in protest is that she writes many…show more content… As they travel from Vancouver to Slocan and to Granton, they face challenges in each place they go. In Vancouver,”everyone is distressed” and most people “are reliable to imprisonment” (112).Because of all these problems in Vancouver and all their properties is taken away from them, Aunt Emily sends the other family members to Slocan and she goes somewhere else. In Slocan, they all live together in a hovel and no Japanese child goes to school. Moreover, Aunt Emily still keeps her hopes high as she “will wait until that happy day when we can all be together again”(126).This shows how strong Aunt Emily is. Even in this difficult moment, she still hopes for a “happy day”(126),in the future when all of these oppressions, grief and discrimination of the Japanese Canadians would be
