Turtle Sup by Marilyn Chin

Turtle Sup

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?

FOR BEN HUANG

Exploration Of the Text:

1. Notice the author's choice of the word "cauldron" in line 4. What image or connection does this word evoke? Why might the author choose "cauldron" rather than "pot"?

   "Cauldron" in line 4 symbolize the son and showed the love and sacrifices made by the mother. "who knows what else is in that cauldron" show an imagery of all the mother did for her son while his child is not in presence. "Twelve hours hunched over the hearth,(who knows what else is in that cauldron)" showed that the busy life of doing the job as a mother and who knows what his mother did for him when he is busy doing something else and i am sure it is something that good for his son. The chosen of "cauldron" over "pot" symbolize the son that need to be filled with love, knowledge and moral fiber. The cauldron is bigger than the pot showed the responsibility is bigger in the case of raising a children.
   But if you looked at it in a negative way, "Cauldron" in line 4 show an image of a large kettle or boiler to cook. It is also used in typical witch story or movie. The Witch portraying the mother who was cooking something unacceptable some of the society. The witch-act set the son thinking about what else her mother put into the cauldron because as a half Chinese, he doesn't believe in the longevity had by the turtle.

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 use of these river's "the Wei", "The Yellow", and the Yangtze" rather than those outside the country is because it's located inside China. A well flowing local river that is easy for the persona to relate the point or idea rather than using the river that is hard to pop up by the imagination while discussing about it. It is also showed the wisdom of the turtle who went through the river and it's symbolize the experience gain by the turtle and directed us to the point of knowing the cultural heritage that the Chinese had and as a race that has it's legend.

3. What is the tone of the poem?

    The tone of the poem is considered as anger. It cause by the argument between the mother and son that triggered the mother to cry while standing their ground of opinion. The mother just want to light up the sense of living in China that have a sentimental value in her life while her son is against with the orthodox thinking and things.    

Ideas of Writing.

  "Sometimes you're the life, sometimes the sacrifice". Sometimes, things evolve around you. You were raised and gain experience by the day you were born on that particular place and see the world change. You made a bunch of friends and grow up with them. Make a lot of fun and sad memories that you shared with your family and friend at your birth place. That's showed that you are the life, of your family and friend while the earth spins around you like a symbol of the event that happen and you are the cause of it.

   But when you move to another place. You've become the sacrifice off what you have built up of all your life. You lose your friends, your daily habits that you built at the old place, you also thinking if you will be accepted by the new society and your old life. It is like what will happen after this will not include you into it, you will not be in the memories that will be made after migrate. That what makes you as the sacrifice. That is something you will lose after migrating to other places or land. You've been hit by a lot of negative impact but that not the end of your journey or the world.

     What goes around, comes around. But on the other side of the tape. Although you have to adapt a new lifestyle, situation, society and culture, you also will gain something even more precious and important. You will gain new experience, new friends, and gain new knowledge. At first you it's may be hard to find a friend, a place to socialize, to be accepted. For those who want his life to be adventurous, migration is the solution. Who know that migrating sets you on a journey to know more about yourself, to know the meaning of life. You also learned the true or value of a family and friendship. With that you can make your life better than before. Making new friend, find a new job, making new experience and learn to appreciate each and everything you've got.