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Aunt Emily’s box of documents represents the importance of preserving tangible reminders of and connections to the past. Naomi looks through the box that Emily sent her after Uncle’s death, and its contents force Naomi to reckon with the past that she has ignored. The papers within the box not only remind Naomi of what her family endured, they also reveal new truths and perspectives about those experiences. The documents clarify what happened to Naomi’s respective family members during the period of internment during World War II, information which the family hid from Naomi and Stephen. Naomi gains more insight into what Father went through in the 1940s, which had mystified her at the time; she learns about internal conflict that Aunt Emily struggled through as she tried to reconcile her Canadian identity with the Canadian government’s mistreatment of her and her community; and, perhaps most importantly, she learns the truth about Mother. Naomi is only able to start finding closure about her mother’s death thanks to Emily’s record-keeping, as for decades Emily saves Grandma Kato’s letters about what happened to her and Mother in Nagasaki. Emily teaches Naomi the importance of acknowledging the past in order to move forward and prevent injustice from repeating itself, but that process would not be possible if not for people like Emily who attend to the past and preserve it until others are ready to come to terms with it.
Aunt Emily’s Box of Documents Quotes in Obasan
The Obasan quotes below all refer to the symbol of Aunt Emily’s Box of Documents. 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:
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Chapter 7
Quotes
“Write the vision and make it plain. Habakkuk 2.2”
Dear Aunt Em is crusading still. […] For her, the vision is the truth as she lives it. When she is called like Habakkuk to the witness stand, her testimony is to the light that shines in the lives of the Nisei, in their desperation to prove themselves Canadian, in their tough and gentle spirit. The truth for me is more murky, shadowy and gray. But on my lap, her papers are wind and fuel nudging my early-morning thoughts to flame.
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The Custodian’s reply to Aunt Emily must have been the same to anyone else who dared to write. “Be good, my undesirable, my illegitimate children, be obedient, be servile, above all don’t send me any letters of inquiry about your homes, while I stand on guard (over your property) in the true north strong, though you are not free. B. Good.”
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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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Chapter 27
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And I am tired, I suppose, because I want to get away from all this. From the past and all these papers, from the present, from the memories, from the deaths, from Aunt Emily and her heap of words. I want to break loose from the heavy identity, the evidence of rejection, the unexpressed passion, the misunderstood politeness. I am tired of living between deaths and funerals, weighted with decorum, unable to shout or sing or dance, unable to scream or swear, unable to laugh, unable to breathe out loud.
(Keep your eyes down. When you are in the city, do not look into anyone's face. That way they may not see you. That way you offend less.)
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All of Aunt Emily’s words, all her papers, the telegrams and petitions, are like scratchings in the barnyard, the evidence of much activity, scaly claws hard at work. But what good they do, I do not know––those little black typewritten words––rain words, cloud droppings. They do not touch us where we are planted here in Alberta, our roots clawing the sudden prairie air. The words are not made flesh. Trains do not carry us home. Ships do not return again. All my prayers disappear into space.
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Aunt Emily’s Box of Documents Symbol Timeline in Obasan
The timeline below shows where the symbol Aunt Emily’s Box of Documents appears in Obasan. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6
...if much more time has passed. She goes to the kitchen, where Obasan reveals the parcel she was looking for in the attic. Obasan is embarrassed and explains that she forgot...
(full context)
Chapter 7
Inside the parcel from Emily is a collection of documents, including Emily’s private diary from 1941. Aunt Emily...
(full context)
Chapter 8
Back in 1972, Naomi looks through the box, which Emily sent to help Naomi “know everything.” Naomi doesn’t understand what Emily hopes to...
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Inside the box, Naomi finds two letters written in Japanese, which she can’t read. Obasan refuses to tell...
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Chapter 27
...story returns to 1972, as Naomi grapples with the sheer amount of documents in the parcel Aunt Emily has sent her. She wants to escape the past that these papers represent...
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Chapter 29
...of concern for national security and the security of Japanese Canadians. Naomi looks through Emily’s documentation of this and finally cries for all that her family has lost. Still, Naomi thinks...
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Chapter 32
...alive, but she still occasionally imagines that they are. However, when Naomi looks through Emily’s box of documents in 1972, she finds letters that prove that Mother and Grandma Kato at...
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Chapter 34
Back in 1972, Naomi’s exploration of Aunt Emily’s box of documents is interrupted when Mr. Barker knocks on the door with his young second...
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