How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
They all look rather humorless, but satisfied with the attention of the camera and its message for the day that all is well. That for ever and ever all is well. But it isn't, of course. Even my eleven-year-olds know that you can't "capture life's precious moments", as they say in the camera ads. (4.16)
We often see Naomi describing scenes from photographs in the novel. What role do photographs play in her memory of her childhood? Is it true that you can't capture life's precious moments in a picture?
Quote #2
Everything, I suppose, turns to dust eventually. A man's memories end up in some attic or in a Salvation Army bin. His name becomes a fleeting statistic and his face is lost in fading photographs, the clothing quaint, the anecdotes gone. (5.22)
This is a pretty sad interpretation of the phrase "from ashes to ashes, from dust to dust." It also strangely contrasts with the overall feeling of Obasan's house. If everything is eventually lost and turns to dust, how does Obasan have a house full of preserved knickknacks and memories?
Quote #3
She seems to have forgotten her reason for coming up here. I notice these days, from time to time, how the present disappears in her mind. The past hungers for her. Feasts on her. (5.34)
Why do you think Naomi says that the past hungers for Obasan? What would it mean for the past to eat her?