Language Arts: Poetry Assignment - Lost Sister by Cathy Song
Erinn Lee (10) 206
The difference between the life experiences of the two sisters is their vastly different lifestyles. The main difference is the amount of freedom they had. The first sister lived in China. The women brought up in the Chinese culture “never left home” and had freedom “stolen from them at birth”. This shows us that the first sister led a very restricted lifestyle under the influence of a strict culture. The ability “to move freely was a luxury” as they had to go through foot binding. After their feet had been bound, they had to “[gather] patience” and “[learn] to walk in shoes the size of teacups, without breaking”, while learning to be more feminine. This tells us about the hardships that the
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The poet states that “[The first sister] never left home. To move freely was a luxury stolen from them at birth” which in essence means that the women surrounded by the Chinese culture were not allowed to move at their own will and her only purpose in life was to serve her family. Simultaneously, the poet mentions that the first sister had to “[learn] to walk in shoes the size of teacups, without breaking”, which shows that she had her feet bounded. On the other hand, the poet starts the first stanza of the second part of the poem by saying that “There is a sister across the ocean” which tells us that the second sister wanted to be free. She then continues to say that the second sister “relinquished her name, diluting jade green with the blue of the Pacific” which shows that the second sister rebelliously rejected her culture and migrated to America. The entire stanza is very figurative and uses metaphoric words. All in all, the poet presents the life experience of the first sister in China more literally while life experience of the second sister in America is more
Jing-mei’s call to adventure is different from others in the novel; Jing-mei is thrown into her journey by losing her mother and learning her long lost twin sisters, Chwun Yu and Chwun Hwa, from China are still alive. Before her journey began, the relationship between
Nostalgia is a conspicuous subject seen throughout the poem. "My sister and I were in love with meema's Indian blanket" The begining of her evocative and romantic tone is arrayed when she introduces the quilt. The use of past tense "were in love" suggest the poet's state of nostalgia of her childhood because of how she and her sibling so innocently and lovlingly admire the quilt that poses an almost foreign and mystical thing to them. " perhaps under this quilt I'd dream of myself...within the dream of myself perhaps I'd meet my son" The child wrapped up in the blanket of faultless fantasy, longs and wonders about the future, and all its wonderful possiblities. Now as an adult, she knows all the outcomes of her past dreams, but loves to remember how charmingly clueless she was, just like most children are.
The poem mentions a flower, one that is “unsweetened by rain, untarnished by simpering, uncuckolded by men” (Maracle 156), pointing out to the reader that the flower is tenacious regardless of the situation that it is placed in. Maracle intentionally chooses a flower to represent the Chinese, as oftentimes a flower is symbolizes “strength and courageousness” (Koehn 1952) in chinese culture, revealing the respect that Maracle has for the Chinese. A discriminatory act upon the Chinese was the racial segregation into Chinatown during the time of the gold rush and the building of the railroad. Overtime, the segregation caused many Chinese to be silenced, fearing for their lives. Maracle chooses to dedicate the poem to Sky Lee and Jim Wong-Chu to show gratitude for the developments they have made towards encouraging the Chinese community to speak out against
“Nikki-Rosa” Poem Analysis In the poem “Nikki- Rosa,” Nikki Giovanni writes with diction and imagery to prove that’s she had a happy childhood in spite of her family’s hardships. Giovanni creates a poem, that although short in words, provides a lasting effect on the reader. Giovanni’s creative use of language and descriptive words, the distinction of black culture from white culture, and memories of average times that made her childhood unique and happy made this poem distinct and exceptional. Giovanni frequently references to her happy childhood in her poem using words and phrases that create an image in your mind showing you that her childhood was in fact a happy one.
A Brother Lost The author is Ashley Womble has expressive before a story about title “A Brother Lost” that is happening to her without brother being lost. Sometime can to feel their problem being missing or lost from people important is get poor than can’t found to where a place in town. The woman is person about like is state from New York never to use homeless with people in a begin lost to help.
At first Jing-Mei grew in her dreams and desirers to be perfect for her family; “In all of my imaginings
The poem begins with the speaker looking at a photograph of herself on a beach where the “sun cuts the rippling Gulf in flashes with each tidal rush” (Trethewey l. 5-7). The beach is an area where two separate elements meet, earth and water, which can represent the separation of the different races that is described during the time that her grandmother was alive and it can also represent the two races that are able to live in harmony in the present day. The clothing that the two women wear not only represent how people dressed during the different time periods, but in both the photographs of the speaker and her grandmother, they are seen standing in a superman-like pose with their hands on “flowered hips” (Trethewey l. 3,16). The flowers on the “bright bikini” (Trethewey l. 4) are used to represent the death of segregation, similar to how one would put flowers on a loved one’s grave, and on the “cotton meal sack dress” (Trethewey l. 17) it is used to symbolize love and peace in a troubled society.
This disagreement quickly became a source of resentment and anger for both of them, but Jing-Mei and her mother were unable to resolve this conflict because of their different backgrounds and experiences. The story showcases how relationships between mothers and daughters can be strained because of differences in culture and a lack of communication. One of the difficulties between Jing-Mei and her mother is their different cultural backgrounds, which is supported by two points from the story. Firstly, Jing-Mei and her mother both disagreed on the opportunities that existed in America. According to Singer, Amy Tan uses “two entirely
“After losing everything in China…She never looked back with regret. ”(Chunk 1 ¶3). Jing-Mei’s mother is a Chinese immigrant with the typical ‘everything is better in America’ mindset. Jing-Mei, being raised in America, had more of an American mindset. “You want me to be someone i’m not…I’ll never be the daughter you want me to be!”
It is my family. It is in our blood. After all these years I can finally be let go” (Tan 159). For the first time in her life of being stuck between two cultures and believing that she does not belong to either, Jing-Mei feels like she belongs. As it was previously stated about the meanings of this family’s poetic names, these names that were given to them by their mother created a meaningful theme.
“Poem for My Sister” written by Liz Lochhead, is a poem describing the relationship between two sisters and their experiences. As with almost all siblings, the younger sister looks up to her older sister and strives to be like her whereas the older sister in this poem has been through numerous hardships and troubles in her life and warns her stubborn sister to not follow in her footsteps. The reader can relate to the poem as they are either an adult or a child and both ages apprehend the feelings and emotions that the characters are experiencing. A deeper meaning this poem suggests is that the experience of adulthood should be seen as advice for the upcoming generations.
As a whole, while the story was very depressing at times, it still has an underlying tone of family ideals, as the relationship between the mother and daughter still remained despite the arguments they had. In my opinion, I think the author’s message that she wished to convey was that despite any event that may occur, family members will always be there support you. This is shown in how, despite Jing Mei’s failures at becoming a prodigy, her mother still supported her and did not give up hope on helping her daughter becoming a successful person. As such, it strengthens the idea that “family will always be there for you”, no matter what hardships come their way. In addition, it helped to add a sense of togetherness in the short story, as it inadvertently revealed how much Jing’s mother actually loved her, despite her tough exterior.
The first stanza of the poem personifies Africa as a woman of her beauty. The second stanza shows the history of Africa crippled of her powers. The third stanza shows Africa is rising from the suffering of her past. First, the poem personifies Africa as a woman to define the continent’s beauty. The poet uses the earthly method to compare Africa to a woman.