Exploration of The Text in Marilyn Chin's "Turtle Soup "

 Turtle Soup




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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

Copyright © 1993 by Marilyn Chin, from The Pheonix Gone, The Terrace EmptyOnline Source: http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/users/m/mdherrin/turtle.html

1.   The word “cauldron” in Stanza 1, line 4 suggested to be a traditional stove. The word "cauldron" eventually opens an imagery of how was the turtle being boiled by her mother, which is later on explained in Stanza 2.The word also evokes an irony to the speaker as a result of her mother serving a bowl of turtle soup as a source of maintain her health instead of a significant symbol of longevity in Stanza 2. 

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 the turtle lived four thousand years, swam

the Wei, up to the Yellow, over the Yangtze.

Witnessed the Bronze Age, the High Tang,

Grazed on splendid sericulture."

(So, she boils the life out of him)

     2.  The speaker refers to “the Wei”, “the Yellow” and “the Yangtze” as a way to amazed of  the chronological history in China. She is presumably amazed of how did her ancestors, which is represented as the wise old turtle, have preserved the traditional Chinese identity throughout the Bronze Age. Instead of mentioning the Nile, the Amazon or the Mississippi, she recited the geographical location of China as a way to remember the old identity of the her origins as a Chinese. This is suggested in Stanza 2, line 5-9

You say, "Ma, you've poached the symbol of long life;

that the turtle lived four thousand years, swam

the Wei, up to the Yellow, over the Yangtze.

Witnessed the Bronze Age, the High Tang,

Grazed on splendid sericulture."

 3. The tone of poem is suggested nostalgic as the speaker is presumably nostalgic of her Chinese identity. The conversation between the speaker and her mother has ended with troubled thought whether if her mother has also went through all the changes because of the cultural differences that has depleted the Chinese soul in her. 

"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?

Ideas for Writing

1.“Sometimes you’re the life, sometimes the sacrifice.”  This quotation has suggested that in order to survive better in a foreign land, one must learn to leave their pasts behind regardless of culture and faces of people that you knew in the pasts so that the future generation of your children will follow your steps in accepting the ideology of the society. From the speaker’s point of view, she is quite reluctant to drink up the turtle soup for turtle symbolizes the longevity and wisdom based on Stanza She is still proud of her ancestry line in China who has established a long living history that the American’s cultures are not comparable to the

However, when her mother said in Stanza 3, line 14 to 15 and Stanza 4, line 16-17 that the speaker began to realize that in order to assimilate well in a new foreign land, her mother has learnt to live her on by letting go all of her previous culture and habits to lead her child to better future in America.

 “Eat , child,

its liver will make you strong.”

“Sometimes you’re the life, sometimes the sacrifice,”

Her sobbing is inconsolable.

In the context of an immigrant family, “In a Far Country” by K.S Maniam has  displayed the sense of otherness of the Lee Shin’s psychological journey, the minor character of the novel. Along his psychological journey in Malaysia, he couldn't assimilate well in the new environment which he has adapted in China. Therefore, he lost his sense of belongings and became a very lonely person.  He was initially being humiliated and teased by Wali Farouk till an extent that he did not collect his “mandarin coats” and “Chinese suit”. Therefore, he was transformed into an unhygienic person by wearing “limped shirts” with” frayed collars” (P.g 48) (P.g 163). He occupied his house with antique furniture and calligraphy posters just to reminiscence of his house back in his hometown (P.g 46) He became delusional due to extreme loneliness. Therefore, he chooses to join Rajan in seeing women in black in Crystal Palace. There again, he met a spotted lady or a prostitute, May, who resembles his fiancée, Mei Lin. So, he has requested her to wear some attire that her fiancée, has frequently worn, brought her out for dinner and shopping just to overwhelm his loneliness and “sexual favour”(P.g 165-166). Before he dies, he rampages his furniture and posters out of anger for he couldn't overcome his loneliness and sense of alienation and he died in his sleep with Mei Lin’s photo on his hand. Therefore, we can see that how an immigrant would end his life because of not assimilating well in the foreign land.

Even though the speaker seemed to feel vain after having a long conversation with her mother, it can assumed that her mother has grieved and cried initially at the stage of attempting to get used to the new environment in Pasedena. After a few years of adapting the lifestyle in America, her thinking has became less conservative and superstitious as the speaker. Based on Stanza 6, it is suggested that if an individual doesn't learn to move on in their life, they will eventually lose their sense of belongings in their new place or even the worse losing their own dignity and life.

Taken from the novel "In A Far Country" by K.S Maniam

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