Beginning of Essay
"I want to break loose from the heavy identity…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." (102). In Joy Kogawa's . Naom ....

Middle of Essay
.... and Emily, through their differing forms of communication, lifestyle traits and Nisei and Sansei traditions, as a result she forms her own lifestyle path and discovers her complete identity. The differing forms of communication by the two aunts play a role in Naomi's lifestyle choice: with her use of Japanese silence and Emily through her straight forwardness. lives her life through a shell that traps her thoughts and feelings inside. She expresses her feelings in her actions and with occasional Japanese phrases. This is evident in the following description by Naomi; "I feel that each breath she takes is weighted with her morality. She is ....