Obasan

by

Joy Kogawa

Grandma Kato Character Analysis

Grandma Kato is Naomi’s maternal grandmother, the mother of Aunt Emily and Mother. She brings Mother to Japan with her before the war, leaving behind her other daughter and her husband Grandpa Kato. Grandma Kato’s letter to her husband breaks the silence about the devastation felt by the Katos in Nagasaki, and reading this letter decades later allows Naomi to find some closure regarding the loss of her mother.

Grandma Kato Quotes in Obasan

The Obasan quotes below are all either spoken by Grandma Kato or refer to Grandma Kato. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Race, Identity, and Citizenship Theme Icon
).
Chapter 37 Quotes

She and my mother, [Grandma Kato] writes, were unable to talk of all the things that happened. The horror would surely die sooner, they felt, if they refused to speak. But the silence and the constancy of the nightmare had become unbearable for Grandma and she hoped that by sharing them with her husband, she could be helped to extricate herself from the grip of the past.

Related Characters: Naomi Nakane (speaker), Mother, Grandma Kato, Grandpa Kato
Page Number: 282-283
Explanation and Analysis:
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Grandma Kato Quotes in Obasan

The Obasan quotes below are all either spoken by Grandma Kato or refer to Grandma Kato. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Race, Identity, and Citizenship Theme Icon
).
Chapter 37 Quotes

She and my mother, [Grandma Kato] writes, were unable to talk of all the things that happened. The horror would surely die sooner, they felt, if they refused to speak. But the silence and the constancy of the nightmare had become unbearable for Grandma and she hoped that by sharing them with her husband, she could be helped to extricate herself from the grip of the past.

Related Characters: Naomi Nakane (speaker), Mother, Grandma Kato, Grandpa Kato
Page Number: 282-283
Explanation and Analysis: