Naomi's Road by Joy Kogawa is a story that takes place in Canada during the Second World War, and is based on the author's own personal experience. However, what also makes this story different is it tells the tale of a Japanese family that was placed into a Canadian internment camp after the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941.
Naomi starts off as a four year old girl who doesn't understand why people in Canada think that she and her family are bad, simply because they are Japanese. She ends up having to leave her home and her cherry tree in Vancouver behind, and go to a camp in Slocan, British Columbia. Before she left Vancouver, her mother and grandmother returned to Japan to see a sick relative. Her daddy also has to leave the family, and her other grandmother passes on. The family she is left with is her brother, her uncle, and Obasan.
On her way back from school, Naomi meets a girl named Mitzi who at first dislikes Naomi and her brother solely because of their race. But, after a bit of time, and encouragement from her mother, Mitzi comes around, and becomes Naomi's closest friend. Unfortunately, their time is cut short when Naomi and her family are relocated out to Alberta to work as farm hands. The life and family she once had are no longer.
Naomi's Road takes the reader back to a point in Canadian history that many probably don't know about. Our government had a race of people who did no wrong in this country sent off to camps for no other reason than they were Japanese. It's a painful reminder of who we were and what we did. I knew that we had a black mark on our history, but I didn't realize the extent. This story was definitely an education for me, even if it was historical fiction.
No comments:
Post a Comment