In the two stories this article will focus on, the use of silence allows for a deeper understanding of the main characters and the dynamics of their relationships. By keeping secrets locked inside themselves, the characters in these stories suffer. In Joy Kogawa's short story titled “Obasan,” the secrets the family keeps about their past internment in Japanese-Canadian camps are the cause of estranged relationships and, to some extent, death. The silence that this family embraces to protect themselves actually only hurts them on a personal, physical and emotional level, especially Obasan herself. In Eden Robinson's story, entitled “The Queen of the North”, the secrets kept by the protagonist, Adelaine, have an enormous influence on her relationships with the other characters. In this story, the power of all things unsaid and unanswered describes the damage that remaining silent about a traumatic event can have on a character's emotional and psychological makeup. Both Obasan and Adelaine internalize traumatic events in their lives, and while this silence harms them in different ways, it definitely has a negative impact on both of their lives. The first story to consider is that of "Obasan", which is written by Joy Kogawa. Within this story, Kogawa is critical of the impact silence has on the human psyche. She is critical of this because, as her story indicates, silence in and of itself causes considerable damage to the human psyche. This can be seen with the titular character of this story, Obasan herself. Obasan is herself depicted as a relatively silent individual and, in her own way, shrouded in stillness. The story... in the middle of the paper... seems to be the most likely situation, given his actions at the end of the story. When she takes a menstrual clot and places it in a box with a note that says "It was yours, so I killed it" (1222), she has already confronted and ensured that her uncle will never touch her again. This action, then, is how Adelaine is finally able to let go of her self-imposed silence. Interestingly, that notion is based on something the public doesn't know for sure. Works Cited Kogawa, Joy. “Obasan.” An anthology of Canadian literature in English. Ed. Donna Bennett and Ed. Russell Brown. Third. Canada: Oxford University Press, 2010. 752-757. Print.Robinson, Eden. "Queen in the North." An anthology of Canadian literature in English. Ed. Donna Bennett and Ed. Russell Brown. Third. Canada: Oxford University Press, 2010. 1207-1222. Press.