Question

Obachan in "Attack on the Water" is _____? Select al that apply.

Answer 1

Answer:

An archetype of Good Mother.

An anonymous Vietnamese mother.  

Mirikitani's grandmother.

Explanation:

Janice Mirikitani's poem "Attack the Water" is a short, stacked poem about her own grandmother and how she resembles the face of a woman she saw in a newspaper. The poem shows the suffering and pain of war, especially during the Vietnam war.

In the poem, Mirikitani recounts how the face of an old woman she saw in a newspaper resembles that of her grandmother. Obachan, the Japanese word for grandmother, took care to feed the younger ones, even "eat[ing]" maggot-infested rice to feed the children. This picture of maternal love and care is significant for the grandmother represents an archetype of a mother, while the man source of all this imagination is an anonymous Vietnamese mother. It also took the speaker back to her own grandmother.

Thus, the correct answers are the first, second, and fourth options.