Turtle Soup

Exploration on Turtle Soup by Marilyn Chin

On the reference to Turtle Soup by Marilyn Chin

Question 1

The speaker used "cauldron" instead of pot because the speaker's mother has a very strong relation keeping the tradition rather than to change it.Caudron imaged that the mother never leave the tradition and still obey what culture taught.This line reinforces the differences between mother and daughter, 

Chinese and American. The mother has been hard at work cooking soup all day, but the 

daughter thinks of it as a witch’s brew cooked in a cauldron.

Question 2

The speaker refers all those rivers in China because turtle is very close China community.It symbolised long life happiness and as a symbol of strongness.The reason why it does mentioned in the poem about all things related to China because this poem in a way talks about tradition and long life. It also talks about the circle of life.

Question 3

I believe that the tone is little of sarcastic in the second stanza, she relays the conversation: “Ma, you’ve poached the symbol of long life.” The tone here is ironic as she both acknowledges the tradition her mother engages in by referring to the turtle as “the symbol of long life” and mocks it by chiding “Ma” for having poached it. In lines 6-9 when the speaker informs her mother of how long the turtle has lived and where along various Chinese rivers it has swum,noticing her mother that she is beig sarcastis about her mother style.

Ideas for writing

In life,there are some unfortunated people that still raising the hands and begging for help.Indeed,not much of us that have our own self awareness to help those unfortunate.So,that is all up for them to start and create their own dimention of survival.One of their way out is migration.They nned to move on to seek for new future and better life.Thy have to confront and encounter all the fears and also all the obstacles only to be able seat in comfort pot.

 Once,I have read about one article talking on this matter.Immigration is bad – that is what the propagandists of populist politics are blazoning, in unison with their primitive media set on singing the same tune. The social and economic problems of our economic system are projected onto immigrants, and those still unaware “aliens” cannot easily defend themselves against what is happening.That is one of the problem that those immigrants should face off.If you are in their shoes,could you bare to hold on something when actually there is nothing there to hold.Please,do give them with space so that thet can able to live like we do.

 In this poem- Turtle Soup by Marilyn Chin,there is some strong connection of culture that still mother hold on to.Which  most to brought mean that culture is a part of lifestyle.No matter where you go ,you still bring  your colour of your  life.Mother represents older generation while that daughter represents the new generations.She eats turtle soup (a Chinese food), she thinks about turtles as symbols of ancient wisdom (as the Chinese do), she even discusses Chinese history (the High Tang) with her mother. The Americans have almost no history. But at the same time, she knows that she is not Chinese. She lives in Pasadena, and the turtle shell itself has a Made In Hong Kong stamp on its underside. Marilyn Chin feels Chinese, but she knows she is not. Like most Americans, she doesn't really have an identity. She just likes to pretend. Here we see how much migration have effect the culture and it seems that new generation have lost their concernity and enjoyment of practising their origin culture.That is most common thing that happened and what we have lose by moving to new land.

  

Amiri Baraka

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)

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

question 1

Baraka is one with the persona of the poem. In a confessional tone, he meditates upon his own existence and renders a number of observations associated with apparently daily actions of domestic life. The poet first describes becoming “accustomed to the way/ The ground opens up and envelopes” him as he is engaged in such a mundane activity as walking his dog. Immediately, there is a mood of repetition, the recurrence of daily chores or duties, but these actions are linked to more complex psychological states—the sensation of the “ground” opening up—and are beyond expected expressions of boredom connected to numbing repetition.

question 2

The daughter’s praying represents hope despite obstacles and sadness in the life of the speaker.  It gave me pleasure to see that a small gesture can overcome those negative parts of life, no matter what they might be.  The tone of the poem also seemed to change when he saw this.

question 3
The title poem of the volume introduces the recurring themes of despair, alienation, and self-deprecation. “Preface to a Twenty-Volume Suicide Note”
This poem is likely a reflection of the poet’s own concerns and personal experiences filled with images of the stultifying life of convention and respectability. The speaker is struggling with the issues of sadness and hopelessness.The feelings I had while reading this poem possessed sorrow, depression, but hope as well.

question 6
 I believe the intended meaning of this poem is to show the readers that there’s depression inside this parent, but there’s one thing that’s holding them to this earth. In this story there is a parent, a child, and GOD. The parent is saying to herself and GOD she doesn’t want to be alive. The child is probably praying that her mother is okay, and the child is also telling her mother that no matter how she feels she has one reason to stay alive. The child didn’t actually say any words , but through her presence and body language it tells it all. 

INCIDENT COUNTEE CULLEN

Incident

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. 

Countee Cullen

Explorations of the text 

question 1

In my opinion the natural interactions between two boys is a total huge of racism which occur even among the young kids.When the poet potrays in 2nd stanza,it is clearly shown how racism can be judge and practically done even at such young age.Kids in the same age would probably have the mutual naturalism but here,in this poem it is just turn upside around.

quetion 2

Being accused and treated like one foreign or even like criminal because being black people is too harsh for a young kids to e able to deal with.What do you expect from an eight yeras old boy who being humilated and labelled with something negative also there is kid that called him that too.The only thing he could remember is just yhat incident that really give a great impact on him.Throughout the year,he must confront with that situation and dealt with it.So that was the only thing that he could remember as he is dealing with it everyday. It had immediate shock value, with the speaker of the poem as total victim and the reader suffering vicariously.

Reading and writting connection.

question 1

I maybe not have been through such personal experience of mentally being racially abused but I do have some issue in racism.I think people in Malaysia still practised racism eiher we realised or not.For example,we do have some label toward to some specific races in Malaysia. Do not say that you do not practised it because you do.

Ideas for writing

The poem in its self takes on a rhyme scheme that allows you the reader to feel the narrator, so that you can not only imagine that you were there, but you can also almost gather the same feelings as the narrator. In the begin he talks about how he first rode through Baltimore happy, and filled with glee. Until he spoke to a stranger politely and the stranger poked out his mouth and calls him/her a nigger. In this event he states towards the end of the poem, "I saw the whole of Baltimore from May until December; of all the things that happen there that's all that I remember". It took that one event to leave an impression about Baltimore that was unforgettable.

T H E Y

They _ inspired by Naomi Shihab Nye's All Things Not Considered.

They saw men with no hands
Gasping for air from bloody nose
They saw ladies stepping by
Crying mourning sobbing
Hugging boys in tear jilbab
They saw heads buried on the ground
owned by the babies of the stiff bodies
They heard girls weeping
Holding hands of dying mothers
Will you bare to be them?

They are the man who wipe the tears
and holding gun to rub the fears
They are the women prepared their sons
and seeing them shahid in front
They are the innocent kids waiting for fathers
and buried alive as the murderer
They are the children of breast feed mothers
and starving alone playing bullets
They are our fathers
They are our mothers
They are our sons
They are our kids
Killing nine month baby is not a self defense

If you were they,where are you?


originally created by Zulaikha

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?


Title : All things not considered y Naomi Syihab Nye (looking for themes of the poem)

Reading the poem just making me feel so angry.All the thing are revolves around violent,despir,injustice,abusement,cruelty and all negatives thigs. The base of the poem is all about how the victims of the war dealing with all the hard situation.Naomi also touch the religion aspect - If this is holy,
could we have some new religions please?-  showing that how a religion could affect the situation.Belief and religion are such things that really important to fill up the emotion in dealing with the hard situation like what happened in Palestin. I think that what this poem is really trying to hint at is the idea of there being two sides to every story and conflict. In reality, there is never one true way to interpret a thought, due to the fact that people grow up being taught different theories or learning history or a way of life differently. The way that different religions and races interpret situations is based on the way that they have been raised their whole lives. For example, in the poem the author writes “Everyone hurt in similar ways at different times.” The way that I interpret this symbolic quote is exactly what I said before about different religious groups and various races experiencing the same issue or situation but reacting differently. Also, another key idea that adds to my theory is the idea that “ some picked up guns because guns were given,” and “ at the same time people were studying history and going to school.” These quotes describe that people naturally react to situations in different ways, and that these huge conflicts will not be able to be mediated until one religion or race can walk in the opposing groups shoes.

women in poetry

• Feminist poetry is a movement recognized as coming to life during the 1960s, a decade when many writers challenged traditional notions of form and content. There is no one moment when the feminist poetry movement began; rather, women wrote about their experiences and entered into a dialogue with society over many years before the 1960s. Feminist poetry was influenced by social change, but also by poets such as Emily Dickinson, who lived decades earlier.

• Does feminist poetry mean poems written by feminists, or poetry about feminist subject matter? Must it be both? And who can write feminist poetry -- feminists? Women? Men? The questions are many. Generally, feminist poets have a connection to feminism as a political movement.

• During the 1960s, many poets in the United States explored increased social awareness and self-realization. This included feminists, who claimed their place in society, poetry, and political reality. As a movement, feminist poetry is usually thought of as becoming even more successful during the 1970s: feminist poets were prolific, and they began to achieve major critical acclaim, including several Pulitzer Prizes. On the other hand, many poets and critics suggest that feminists and their poetry have often been relegated to second place (to men) in the "poetry establishment."

• Prominent feminist poets include Maya Angelou, Maxine Kumin, Denise Levertov, Audre Lorde,Adrienne Rich, and Muriel Ruykeyser.

• My favourite poet is Emily Dickinson.

Hope is the Thing with Feathers

"Hope" is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea,
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

By: Emily Dickinson

having a hard time...