“Stephen receives permission to play the piano in the auditorium and every noon hour and recess, and before school begins, he is there alone or with a few girls who stand in the hall outside giggling and listening. [...] For two years in a row, 1948 and 1949, Stephen comes in second in the talent show on CJOC Lethbridge radio. All of Granton is proud of Stephen.”
Here, Naomi narrates the immensity of the role that music played in their successful integration into mainstream Canadian society. She describes how it helped her brother to be accepted by his non-Japanese peers, allowing him an opportunity to be seen as something more that a human novelty. Eventually, he becomes so skilled in music that he is able to finally gain not just acceptance for himself, but also for his entire family and in effect others like him--the Nisei, the second-generation migrant Japanese.
“It wasn't a fishing vessel or an ordinary yacht, but a sleek boat designed by Father, made over many years and many winter evenings. A work of art. "What a beauty," the RCMP officer said in 1941 when he saw it. He shouted as he sliced back through the wake, "What a beauty! What a beauty!"
Naomi recounts the indignity that they, specifically Uncle Sam, endures when the reach Canada. It is story that, per Naomi, is not unique to their family but a sadly common occurrence in their community of Japanese fishermen. Not only did they have their means of livelihoods taken away but also a part of their identity as working, professional men; such as in this case having his handcrafted boat confiscated for no other reason apart from his ethnicity and because they could.
"Everything about Father is precise and graceful as the milk-white porcelain crane, its beak pointing straight up from its long smooth neck." "The handwriting in the letter was as even as waves along the beach, row on row of neat curls and dots, perfect pebbles and shells on an ordered shore."
This excerpt shows the reader how Naomi practically deifies her father. It is interesting to note that her father’s Japanese name, Tadashi, is written using the pictogram that means right or correct, and this is precisely how Naomi sees her father: everything he does is right, correct, virtually perfect from the way he plays his instruments to his writing. It is also ironic because despite her wonder and awe of his graceful movements and features, he is not just a distant memory but also an emotionally distant figure--an idealized image perhaps, similar to her recollection of her mother’s memory.
