I long for a life without longings...

 An understanding of the internment is essential in some ways to understanding the family dynamics and the view point of the narrator because it gives a certain amount of context to the turmoil, regret, loneliness, and discontent experienced and exhibited amongst the mentioned characters.

Even though Knowledge of the internment is helpful in understanding the more specific history of the family and what may have led them to the point they are at I do not think it is completely necessary in order to understand and empathize with the more universal theme of degenerating family bonds, broken hearts, longing, and remorse. “ 'Everyone dies some day,' she says eventually. She tilts her head to the side as if it's all to heavy inside.” (Kogawa, 3) This quote is powerful, however not specifically because of the historical context of the internment, but simply because time has a way of burdening us, making us feel heavy inside. This weight is something most people can relate to whether or not they have knowledge of the internment.

 

“She is all old women in every hamlet in the world. You see her on a street corner in a village in southern France, in her black dress and her black stockings. She is squatting on stone steps in a Mexican mountain village. Everywhere she stands as the true and rightful owner of the earth, the bearer of love's keys to unknown doorways, to a network of astonishing tunnels, the possessor of life's infinite personal details. 'I am old,' she says.” (Kogawa, 5) This exert illustrates quite perfectly my exact point when I say that the feelings Obasan is experiencing could be those of any woman at her stage of life. The sentiments have been shared and passed down from one generation to the next and from one culture to the next many times over.

 

The things I find most helpful when writing an essay it to first brainstorm topics, view points, titles, and themes, then to free write until I feel I have nothing more to say. Once I have done that I usually go back and take it apart in to pieces and discard the unnecessary portions and reassemble the good stuff. Following the dissection I read it out loud to myself and see how it flows. Usually by this point it is a fairly cohesive piece of work. Sometimes if I am still not sure I will ask a friend or family member to read it over, tell me if it makes sense, and get a little bit of feed back.

 

A new writing strategy that I am hoping to implement throughout the duration of this course is really to just feel more confident in my writing, I second guess myself a lot and end up erasing and re-writing about a million times by which point i am so confused nothing seems to make much sense. I hope to be able to write more concisely and efficiently.