Naomi sees Obasan’s identity as less complex and tortured
than her own. Naomi herself is Canadian through and through—but
she faces a constant barrage of questions about her nationality.
Her self-image doesn’t match the way many of her fellow Canadians
perceive her, and frustration is the result. As Naomi sees it, Obasan doesn’t
face the same kind of problems. She is what people assume Naomi
is: originally from Japan. That fact, and her silence, makes her
inviolate.
