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Uncle (Isamu “Sam” Nakane)
Stephen is Naomi’s older brother. Since he is three years older than Naomi, he experiences more direct racism at school before the war begins, which leads him to resent his own Japanese heritage. This shame and anger worsen as Stephen grows up and internalizes the racism that has led to his and his family’s suffering. He spurns his grandparents’ Buddhist religion, refuses to eat Japanese food, and ignores Obasan because she values Japanese traditions and speaks in a mix of English and Japanese. He excels academically and is a gifted musician, and as an adult he establishes a successful music career, but this success comes at the cost of his heritage. Stephen is so determined to be accepted into white society that he sacrifices all reminders of his Japanese identity, including his connection to his family. Stephen demonstrates the importance of solidarity, community, and self-acceptance, because when he rejects those values, he is left isolated and uncomfortable with his own identity.
Stephen Nakane Quotes in Obasan
The Obasan quotes below are all either spoken by Stephen Nakane or refer to Stephen Nakane. 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:
).
Chapter 22
Quotes
The Yellow Peril is a Somerville Game, Made in Canada.
It was given to Stephen at Christmas. On the red-and-blue box cover is a picture of soldiers with bayonets and fists raised high looking out over a sea full of burning ships and a sky full of planes. A game about war. Over a map of Japan are the words:
The game that shows how
a few brave defenders
can withstand a very
great number of enemies.
There are fifty small yellow pawns inside and three big blue checker kings. To be yellow in the Yellow Peril game is to be weak and small. […] I am not yellow. I will not cry however much this nurse yanks my hair.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25
Quotes
“Why can’t we go home, Stephen?”
“Because. That’s why,” Stephen says crossly, and tells me no more. His eyes are like Father’s, searching.
The orders, given to Uncle and Father in 1945, reach me via Aunt Emily's package in 1972, twenty-seven years later.
The delivery service is slow these days. Understanding is even slower. I still do not see the Canadian face of the author of those words.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 29
Quotes
Is it so bad?
Yes.
Do I really mind?
Yes, I mind. I mind everything. Even the flies. […] It’s the chicken coop “house” we live in that I mind. […] It’s the bedbugs and my having to sleep on the table to escape the nightly attack, and the welts all over our bodies. […] Or it’s standing in the beet field under the maddening sun […].
[…] I mind the harvesttime and the hands and the wrists bound in rags to keep the wrists from breaking open. […] I cannot tell about this time, Aunt Emily. The body will not tell.
Chapter 33
Quotes
I know Obasan is praying. I’ve seen her before––the time Stephen leapt out of bed in the middle of the night yelling, “I’ve got to get out of here,” and ran down the road away from the farm in the dark. Obasan sat at the table and prayed till he returned. He said when he came back he’d had a nightmare. Something about a metallic insect the size of a tractor, webbing a grid of iron bars over him. (Later, he told me he had the same nightmare again, but escaped the web by turning the bars into a xylophone.)
Get the entire Obasan LitChart as a printable PDF.
Stephen Nakane Quotes in Obasan
The Obasan quotes below are all either spoken by Stephen Nakane or refer to Stephen Nakane. 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:
).
Chapter 22
Quotes
The Yellow Peril is a Somerville Game, Made in Canada.
It was given to Stephen at Christmas. On the red-and-blue box cover is a picture of soldiers with bayonets and fists raised high looking out over a sea full of burning ships and a sky full of planes. A game about war. Over a map of Japan are the words:
The game that shows how
a few brave defenders
can withstand a very
great number of enemies.
There are fifty small yellow pawns inside and three big blue checker kings. To be yellow in the Yellow Peril game is to be weak and small. […] I am not yellow. I will not cry however much this nurse yanks my hair.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25
Quotes
“Why can’t we go home, Stephen?”
“Because. That’s why,” Stephen says crossly, and tells me no more. His eyes are like Father’s, searching.
The orders, given to Uncle and Father in 1945, reach me via Aunt Emily's package in 1972, twenty-seven years later.
The delivery service is slow these days. Understanding is even slower. I still do not see the Canadian face of the author of those words.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 29
Quotes
Is it so bad?
Yes.
Do I really mind?
Yes, I mind. I mind everything. Even the flies. […] It’s the chicken coop “house” we live in that I mind. […] It’s the bedbugs and my having to sleep on the table to escape the nightly attack, and the welts all over our bodies. […] Or it’s standing in the beet field under the maddening sun […].
[…] I mind the harvesttime and the hands and the wrists bound in rags to keep the wrists from breaking open. […] I cannot tell about this time, Aunt Emily. The body will not tell.
Chapter 33
Quotes
I know Obasan is praying. I’ve seen her before––the time Stephen leapt out of bed in the middle of the night yelling, “I’ve got to get out of here,” and ran down the road away from the farm in the dark. Obasan sat at the table and prayed till he returned. He said when he came back he’d had a nightmare. Something about a metallic insect the size of a tractor, webbing a grid of iron bars over him. (Later, he told me he had the same nightmare again, but escaped the web by turning the bars into a xylophone.)
