Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms and Joy Kogawa’s Obasan break the historical silence of the marginalized race using the speakers’ voices. Murasaki from Chorus of Mushrooms and Naomi from Obasan are the speaking agents or subjects that break the silence on racism and separation of the family. Shameful history and the trauma of racism are reshaped and recovered by Goto and Kogawa in Murasaki and Naomi’s narratives.
Goto in Chorus of Mushrooms criticizes Kay’s method of assimilation and resolves family members’ sense of separation and conflict through Murasaki’s retelling. Goto gives voice to the silent and passive Naoe, through Murasaki’s fantasies and reflections on her own grandmother. In the process of Murasaki’s retelling of her grandmother, Naoe is reborn into an active, enthusiastic, and passionate woman giving challenge to the stereotypes of the Asian woman. Also, Murasaki’s sisterhood with her mother helps Kae to recover her Japanese roots and her relationship with Naoe. Finally Tonkatsu’s family members forgive and understand each other due to the bond of sisterhood.
Kogawa in Obasan criticizes the treatment of Japanese Canadians during World War Ⅱ and reveals their hidden history. Kogawa intertwines history with fictional tragedy, and invokes themes of isolation and separation in Naomi Nakane’s narrative. The narrative reveals how both silence and voice can give strength and understanding, and brings together three generations within a family. In the process of retelling history, Naomi finally listens to the silence, Obasan’s voice, and understands her mother’s love for her children by engaging in silence. Naomi gives voice to Obasan, and eventually understands her mother’s silence as a protection against racism and prejudice, and in doing so, Naomi gains a greater understanding of her own mother. The loneliness of isolation and separation become more bearable, with the retelling narrative.
Goto and Kogawa demonstrate that both Asian Canadians and Caucasians have responsibilities for the problem of racism. Both sides must make an effort to remove racial prejudices against one another to share a more harmonious experience for social integration. Goto and Kogawa, who lived as minorities in Canada, criticize racism as a creator of conflict and segregation within communities and families. Their narratives address racial prejudice by allowing readers to re-visit a Canadian history affected by racist and prejudiced laws and views. These narratives retell their own experiences as minorities in a whitecentered history. The retelling of these stories provide a better outcome for the families, than the true story. In short, Goto and Kogawa pursue into the tolerant world without any racial prejudices through the power of telling.