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Chapter 35
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
Nakayama-sensei, Aunt Emily, and Stephen arrive. Stephen doesn’t respond to Obasan’s attempts to start a conversation with him, and Naomi notes that he has “made himself altogether unfamiliar with speaking Japanese.” Nakayama-sensei leads the group in prayer for Uncle, but Stephen doesn’t give the prayer much attention.
Stephen has successfully created an adult life for himself that is cut off from all things Japanese, and it has cost him his family and any possible security in his racial identity. He has seemingly not matured much in the years since Naomi last saw him, as he disregards Nakayama-sensei’s prayer with the same immature inattention he showed as a teenager.
Themes
Aunt Emily shows a stack of letters to Nakayama-sensei and explains that Naomi and Stephen don’t know about them. Nakayama-sensei points out that Naomi and Stephen are no longer children, and Emily explains that she wanted to share the letters’ contents, but decided instead to follow the wishes of her sister (Mother). The letters, Emily and Nakayama-sensei reveal, were written many years ago by Grandma Kato.
The tension between silence and sharing information continues. Nakayama-sensei’s immediate belief that Naomi and Stephen deserve to see the letter highlights that the culture of silence Naomi has experienced is influenced by Japanese traditions, but it is also specific to the Nakane family.
Themes
