Turtle Soup by Marilyn Chin

 You go home one evening tired from work, 

and your mother boils you turtle soup.
Twelve hours hunched over the hearth
(who knows what else is in that cauldron).

You say, "Ma, you've poached the symbol of long life;
that turtle lived four thousand years, swam
the Wet, up the Yellow, over the Yangtze.
Witnessed the Bronze Age, the High Tang,
grazed on splendid sericulture."
(So, she boils the life out of him.)

"All our ancestors have been fools.
Remember Uncle Wu who rode ten thousand miles
to kill a famous Manchu and ended up
with his head on a pole? Eat, child,
its liver will make you strong."

"Sometimes you're the life, sometimes the sacrifice."
Her sobbing is inconsolable.
So, you spread that gentle napkin
over your lap in decorous Pasadena.

Baby, some high priestess has got it wrong.
The golden decal on the green underbelly
says "Made in Hong Kong."

Is there nothing left but the shell
and humanity's strange inscriptions,
the songs, the rites, the oracles?

Explorations of the Text

1.     1.Notice the author’s choice of the word “cauldron” in line 4. What images or connections does this word evoke? Why might the author have chosen “cauldron” rather than “pot”?

 Cauldron is large round metal pot usually used by witch and in this poem,  the mother boils turtle soup using cauldron and it is considered as unethical , even the speaker feels disgusted to eat it.

2.   2.   Chin refers to “the Wei “, “the Yellow,” and “the Yangtze”. Why does she reference these  rivers in China? Why not include the Nile, the Amazon, or the Mississippi?

The author wants to emphasize that he/she is closed to his/her origin. 

3.    3.  What is the tone of this poem?

I think it's reflective on ancient Chinese tradition. 

Ideas for Writing

 1.      “Sometimes you’re the life, sometimes the sacrifice.” Write about this quote within the context of an immigrant family. What might a family gain or lose by moving to a new land?

When leaving the country for a new land. We left many things like families, friends and some also might left their love ones. To get to the new land which is a new world and a new place to be conquered. We need to face many things like a new culture, tradition, their religion, their way of life and also the most important thing is their dialectal. If we don’t like to learn their dialectal, we will left behind and can’t follow their societies. The detriment that need to be done is that we need to master and mend our language efficiency in order to triumph in the new place but to someone it might be seen a little bit insignificant but it will affect our daily life as we need to communicate in order to tell what we actually want. If we don’t speak their language, we’re both don’t understand and this might get things that being described are misjudged.

 Being in a new place, we can see a new culture. The culture are really different from places to places. We need to adapt to those changing culture so that we can fully understand and equip it in our daily life. A culture means everything to certain people. So, as we in new place, we need to follow it accordingly as the people are doing it. For the people, if we do some mistakes, we might end up quarrel with them. In order to keep a peaceful life style, a regulation to follow the culture is a must and we must respect it even though some of them might be contradict with our very own culture. We must never forget our culture wherever we go, we could introduce it to the new people as it might be interesting and can keep our relationship tightened and knows each other’s culture better.

Other than that, the food that we usually eat also need to be change, for example in the old country, they eat rice meanwhile in the new land, they only grow wheat, and they need to adjust their taste buds accordingly to the new diet. This food ingestion is really important as it will keep us alive and strong to live and work. A strong motivation also really needed in the new place as for some random people, being far apart far apart from the family can make their motivation going down. The support from the family is quite needed in this situation, if not they can get tired of their life and might end up killing themselves as their morale getting lower.

As we move to a new place, a new path is opened up for us to live there. We have the second chance to change and gain back what we can’t have back in the old place for example triumph, wealth and a better life. A new way of life can totally change a person from a very poor to a very rich person if they utilize everything in the new place. It’s look simple, but need some effort in doing the things so that we can gain the sweet success later. Besides that, when we live in the new place, we can’t forget who we are, what we are, and where we are before going to the new land as this can keep us awake that we had made some sacrifice in order to live a blissful life in the new land.

Group leader: Veronica 

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note

Lately, I've become accustomed to the way
The ground opens up and envelopes me
Each time I go out to walk the dog.
Or the broad edged silly music the wind
Makes when I run for a bus...

Things have come to that.

And now, each night I count the stars.
And each night I get the same number.
And when they will not come to be counted,
I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night I tiptoed up
To my daughter's room and heard her
Talking to someone, and when I opened
The door, there was no one there...
Only she on her knees, peeking into

Her own clasped hands.


Explorations of the Text 

1. What is the mood of the speaker in the opening lines? What images suggest his feelings? 

The speaker does not happy with his everyday life. This can be seen in "Lately, I've become accustomed to the way" , shows that he had familiar with his life and accept it as normal.

2. What is the significance of the daughter's gesture of peeking into "her own clasped hands"?

This made the speaker feel alive and not to give up in life. His daughter's gesture made him realized that there's a reason to stay alive, the daughter did not say any words, but her gesture tells it all. 

3. What does the title mean? How does it explain the closing line?

The title indicate that the speaker trying to commit suicide. We can assume that the speaker feel very depressed and hopeless being oppressed by Whites because this poem was written during the oppression between the Blacks and Whites. But from the title, the word "Preface" means that it is just introduction to commit  suicide but at the end of this poem, the speaker did not commit suicide. 

4. Why does Baraka have three short lines, separated as stanzas? How do they convey the message of the poem?

He used three short lines, separated as stanza so that the reader can feel what the poem is all about. In a way, this style of writing make reader as a "speaker' in that poem.

5. Why does Baraka begin stanzas with "Lately," "And now," and "And then"?  What do these transition words accomplish? 

Baraka used transition words in his poem to show the reader that the story is in chronological order and how the speaker did not commit suicide at the end. 

6. How does the speaker feel about the daughter? What does she represent to him?

The speaker decides not to commit suicide as he sees his daughter praying. We can see that the speaker does not have strong relationship with God and in this poem, the daughter represent light or hope to the speaker to stay alive. 

A Dedication, To jewish and palestinians

Peace that we hope,
Peace that might not come,

we have lost.

And, can you remember, oh so long ago,
This war never stop!

Some of em die,you know, die gunned away and burned
Cried out and foundered, losing one another.

Peace, were you always there?

This poem entitled"A dedication, To Jewish and Palestinians" inspired by Nye's poem "All Things Not Considered" . I got inspiration to write  this poem because I realized how horrible the situation in Palestin, people regardless age were killed without mercy! p e a c e . That's what they need . 

In this poem, I try to convince readers that, there's always a solution no matter how worst the problem is. I've got inspiration from Nye's poem which her poem is all about injustice faced by Palestinians. Everytime I  read Nye's poem, one thing that always popped up my mind is peace.. How long they should faced this violence and injustice? The war between Jewish and Palestinians had started a long time ago, and to make thing worse, there's no action taken to defend Palestinians! Children lost their parents and so on and they always hope that the war would end and get some peace at least, even though they know Jewish always win . 

Incident

 Incident by Countee Cullen (1903-1946)

Once riding in old Baltimore,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,
And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue, and called me, 'Nigger.'

I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
That's all that I remember. 


Taken from: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/incident/


Explorations of the Text

1. What is the nature of the interaction between the two boys?

Basically in this poem, the two boys don't have good communication skills. In other words, the Baltimorean boy called the black-skinned boy with bad words "nigger" and it is very offensive words for black people. The black boy try to be friend with the white boy when he smiled to him, but the white boy responds with a rude gesture, racist epithet. 

2. Why does the speaker remember nothing more than the incident, even though he stayed in Baltimore from "May until December"?

The speaker says, while he was enjoying the moment riding through the Baltimore,he saw Baltimorean boy keep looking at him and he wandered why that boy keep looking at him for no reason. He gave the Baltimorean friendly smile but that boy responded to him in a very offensive way. This can be seen in second stanza, "And so I smiled, but he poked out, His tongue and called me "Nigger". That incident happened when he was 8 years old, and that boy who just staring at him was not older than him. This clearly shows that how worst the impact of prejudice and racism, even children are being taught right from their age and to keep apart from the blacks. The speaker remember nothing more than the "incident" because to him, that incident really painful. When the white boy called him "nigger" , that was most painful thing he had faced and when he grown up, the only thing that he remembered about Baltimore was when the white boy called him with such offensive word!

The Reading/Writing Connection

1. In a paragraph, compare your experience of prejudice with the persona in the poem. 

Well, talking about my own experience on prejudice.. I think I've experienced it before . That was few years ago. Prejudice against literature and science student. Some people think that literature stream are bad and that was totally wrong! While in this poem, the persona faced trauma of racism that he faced. 

Ideas for Writing

1. What do its form and rhyme add to this poem?

The rhyme scheme in the first stanza is A,B,C,B. 

The second stanza has a rhyme scheme of A,B,C,D. 

The last stanza has a rhyme scheme of A,B,C,B.

In this poem , it rhyme such as "glee", "me". "bigger" , "nigger" , "Baltimore", "December", "there" and "remember". 

2.What is the power of language? What are the effects of the use of the term "nigger"?

Power of language refer to the words used in literary works to make it more meaningful. 

Nigger is very offensive word for black people and in this poem, the persona explains that racism is very painful and no matter at what age you experienced it, it leaves scar in your mind for a lifetime! 

Women in Poetry

Throughout history women poets have left a significant mark on literature society. It means expression of women who often experienced constraints by society. Thats what I'm thinking about women in poetry. But it is different in George Eliot poetry. Well, George Eliot known for her novels , but i found one of her poems catch my eyes! It's free verse poems entitled ' Roses'. 

Here we go ! 

You love the roses – so do I.  I wish

The sky would rain down roses, as they rain

From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?

Then all the valley would be pink and white

And soft to tread on. They would fall as light

As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be

Like sleeping and like waking, all at once

(George Eliot)

It is very beautiful poem right ? Let's take a look of her biography. 

Born Mary Anne Evans,1819, in Nuneaton,Warwickshire; a daughter of Robert Evans, an estate agent, and Christina Evans; died 1880 in London.  She was baptized Mary Anne, but used the spelling Mary Ann until 1851, when she was began using Marian. She lived with G. H. Lewes from 1854 until his death in 1878; She married John Cross in 1880 , a few months before her death. She translated David Friedrich Strauss's The Life of Jesus,Critcally Examined (1846,anonymously) and Ludwig Feuerbach's The Essence of Christianity (1854, as Marian Evans). Her novels, stories and poems were published under the name George Eliot, although after 1859 her authorship was widely known. 

Thanks for reading guys ! :)

Thesis and Mini outline "All Things Not Considered"

   


Thesis : (1) In this poem, the poet emphasize on terrorism, brutality, and death. 

            (2) Through imagery, the poet clearly portrays the injustice experienced by Palestinians.



* I consider this poem as an extreme poem because the elements of death in it.

Theme : Terrorism


-The speaker question whether death is not serious matter . 

Eg : In what language
        is this holy? 

- From the tittle itself , "All Things Not Considered" ; we can indicate that , in war all things are not considered. Violence takes the life of innocent people. 

Eg:  Mohammed al-Durra, huddled against his father
      in the street,terrified. The whole world saw him die. 

-People can re-evaluate their beliefs, because when religion leads to death, it is wrong.

-This poem also using asterisk (*) and italic . 

Exploratory draft of "All Things Not Considered" by Naomi Shihab Nye

In the poem, "All Things Not Considered" by Naomi Shihab Nye, the speaker emphasize on terrorism, brutality and death. What comes to my mind when I read this poem, it is all about terrorism and conflict between Jewish and Palestinians. The most important issue highlighted in this poem is about the flaws of religion, which the main factor of conflict between these two community.This poem begins with "You cannot stitch the breath back into this boy" ,which I think the hint of brutality and death. 

In a way, this poem continue with "A brother and sister were playing with toys when their room exploded" and this strongly show that the brutal death of innocent children. This line speaks about people who are affected by war and violence takes the life of innocent people. Other example of brutality we can see in this poem is in line 8 "Mohammed al-Durra huddled against his father in the street, terrified" . The word "huddled" describe how they stay together because they are frightened. Besides that, death of 4 month girl is also example of violence in this poem. What I notice is, many of Palestinians were killed than Jewish. 

The tension of this poem is inn stanza 13, "some picked up guns because guns were given", which means the people just do the violence to their enemy without knowing the solid reason why they doing it. 



Sarcasm also used in this poem
"If this is holy,
could we have some new religions please?" 


*To show flaws of religion
*All religions don't have violence in it, yet why conflict and war still happen between Jewish and Palestinians?