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?

1. Notice the author's choice of the word "cauldron" in line 4. What image or connections does this word evoke? Why might the author have chosen "cauldron" rather than "pot"?
The word "cauldron" suggests that the speaker does not like what her mother cooked for her. "Cauldron" is a large metal pot that is usually associated with witchcraft. The speaker thinks that it is unethical to eat turtles, "the symbol of long life".

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?
It is understood that the speaker is a Chinese American. This suggests that the speaker still considers herself as a Chinese and has not yet forgotten about her origin, who she is and where she came from.

3. What is the tone of this poem?
I would think the tone of this poem is argumentative.


Ideas for Writing

1. "'Sometimes you're the life, sometimes the sacrifice.'"

When a family migrates to a new land, they tend to leave everything behind. The language that they speak, the environment that they're used to, their culture and most importantly, their home in order to adapt to the new surroundings. Their whole identity, almost. For example, when a Chinese family moves to America, the children will most likely speak American English on a daily basis which in turn, leads to the lost of their mother language which is understood as one of the major parts in a culture. Preserving a culture in another land with its own culture is possible but extra effort must be put in.

On a brighter note though, they become exposed to opportunities. Lets look at it this way, you win some, you lose some. You get to learn about other cultures, you get to explore instead of confining yourself within your comfort zone and as a result, you become more resilient and pliable. It is inevitable that culture is of importance but sometimes you need to make a sacrifice to ensure good for all, which brings us back to the above quote "sometimes you're the life, sometimes the sacrifice." However, this does not, in any possible way, mean that sacrificing one's culture altogether is acceptable. There is nothing wrong with bringing your culture along with you to a new land but at the same time, do not restrict yourself. Get to know about other cultures too.

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note by Amiri Baraka

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.

1. What is the mood of the speaker in the opening lines? What images suggest his feelings?
Depression. The sounds of the words “Lately,” “way”, “opens,” “envelopes,” “go,” “wind,” “run,” slow the stanza down and readers can feel down from the proliferation of "o" sounds as well as the notion of the ground opening up and enveloping the poet.

2. What is the significance of the daughter's gesture of peeking into "her own clasped hands"?
Peeking into "her own clasped hands" suggests that the persona's daughter is praying and it changes the his short suicide note into a twenty volume note that will never be completed.

3. What does the title mean? How does it explain the closing line?
The word "preface" suggests that the persona had intentions to commit suicide and had made suicide notes but "my daughter" was the reason he changed his mind.

4. Why does Baraka have three short lines, separated as stanzas? How do they convey the message of the poem?
The lines "Things have come to that." and "Nobody sings anymore." show that the persona has grown "accustomed" to everything and nothing brings joy to him anymore whereas the last line "Her own clasped hands." gives hope and a reason to turn over a new leaf. 

5. Why does Baraka begin stanzas with "Lately," "And now," and "And then"?  What do these transition words accomplish? 
The transition words show how the persona slowly changes his mind and eventually aborted his plans on committing suicide as he sees hope in "Her own clasped hands."

6. How does the speaker feel about the daughter? What does she represent to him?
The daughter is the one to whom the persona has responsibility, the daughter is the one who loves him and whom he loves. The daughter represents hope and faith.

Incident by Countee Cullen

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.

1. What is the nature of the interaction between the two boys?
The Baltimorean, presumably a white boy, purposely insulted the speaker by sticking out his tongue and calling him a 'nigger' even after being smiled at. This is an act of racism and discrimination.


2. Why does the speaker remember nothing more than the incident, even though he stayed in Baltimore from "May until December"? 
The speaker was taken aback by the incident. The word 'nigger' is a very offensive word to African Americans and through the poem, we know that the speaker was truly offended as it was the only thing he remembered during his 7 month stay in Baltimore when he was eight.

3. In a paragraph compare your experience with prejudice with the persona in the poem.
I personally have not yet experienced any racial prejudice but my father once told me about his Kelantanese friend who experienced social class prejudice when he was looking to buy jewellery for his wife. Being a simple and humble man that he is, he only wore an old shirt and an old pair of jeans and spoke kelantanese to the goldsmith. The goldsmith (who was wearing an expensive chunky jewellery piece around his neck) told him to leave and that he shouldn't be wasting his time there. Little did he know, the man in old clothes who only spoke Kelantanese was a successful car dealer in Kelantan. The story ended with the expensive chunky jewellery piece around the Kelantanese car dealer's neck.

All Things Not Considered by Naomi Shihab Nye

You cannot stitch the breath
back into this boy.

A brother and sister were playing with toys
when their room exploded.

In what language
is this holy?

The Jewish boys killed in the cave
were skipping school, having an adventure.

Asel Asleh, Palestinian, age 17, believed in the field
beyond right and wrong where people came together

to talk. He kneeled to help someone else
stand up before he was shot.

If this is holy,
could we have some new religions please?

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

An Arab father on crutches burying his 4 month girl weeps,
“I spit in the face of this ugly world.”

*

Most of us would take our children over land.
We would walk in the fields forever homeless
with our children,
huddle under cliffs, eat crumbs and berries,
to keep our children.
This is what we say from a distance
because we can say whatever we want.

*

No one was right.
Everyone was wrong.
What if they’d get together
and say that?
At a certain point
the flawed narrator wins.

People made mistakes for decades.
Everyone hurt in similar ways
at different times.
Some picked up guns because guns were given.
If they were holy it was okay to use guns.
Some picked up stones because they had them.
They had millions of them.
They might have picked up turnip roots
or olive pits.
Picking up things to throw and shoot:
at the same time people were studying history,
going to school.

*

The curl of a baby’s graceful ear.

The calm of a bucket
waiting for water.

Orchards of the old Arab men
who knew each tree.

Jewish and Arab women
standing silently together.

Generations of black.

Are people the only holy land?

Thesis 

The poem displays the misinterpretation of religion that leads to carnage instead of peace and harmony as taught by every religion.



First Exploratary Draft

In the poem entitled, 'All Things Not Considered' by Naomi Shihab Nye, the poet depicts the effects of wars executed under the excuse of religion in vivid images. Religion is either used and manipulated by the powerful or misinterpreted by the extremist which result in incomprehensible turmoils.

 Vivid images are painted meticulously in the poem by the poet. The poet uses imagery to effectively capture the reader's empathy and emotions. The line, "A brother and sister were playing with toys, when their room exploded",  shows innocent lives being taken away violently in, where supposedly safe, their own home. The lines, "In what language is this holy?" and "If this is holy, could we have some new religions, please?" accentuated in italic in the poem, are to show provocation, anger and extreme disappointment.

The use of real life names in the poem, Mohammed al-Durra and Asel Asleh, who died in innocence and were both young during death, is another way to compellingly grasp reader's empathy by exhibiting injustice and oppression.

The last few lines of the poem illustrates a serene and peaceful picture, which is what the poet longs for, serenity and peace. The poem is ended with a spectral question, "Are people the only holy land?", to provoke thinking in readers.