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Chapter 16
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Obasan, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race, Identity, and Citizenship
History and Memory
Speech vs. Silence
Selflessness and Decorum
Summary
Analysis
Obasan outfits the hut in Slocan with colorful decorations, but it is still small, and the family shares the house with a bedridden old woman named Nomura-obasan. Obasan usually cares for Nomura-obasan, but one day when she is out, Nomura-obasan calls for her bedpan, and Naomi cannot find it. Stephen ignores Naomi’s request for help, so she alone brings Nomura-obasan to the outhouse and waits until she is finished. Naomi brings Nomura-obasan back inside, where Stephen is listening to his and Mother’s old records. Naomi wishes to go home, but she knows she cannot. She stops asking about her lost doll.
Naomi has lost hope of escaping her life in the ghost town, but she does not take her despair out on those around her. As she cares for Nomura-obasan, Naomi continues to embody the selflessness and duty that Obasan taught her. Stephen, on the other hand, rejects these values. Instead, he wallows in his anger at his situation and yearns for his mother to return.
Themes
