Turtle Soup by Marilyn Chin (1994)

Explorations of the Text

1)      The word “cauldron” portrays the image of ancient tradition of the speaker’s family, which is connected to the traditional Chinese culture. The author chose this word instead of “pot” to emphasis on the importance of giving value to one’s own identity even if it sounds old.

2)      “The Wei”, “the Yellow” and “the Yangtze” represents the ethnic identity of the speaker. Maybe she wanted to value the place where she came from; the China, and also as a symbol of respect towards these rivers as the turtle “that lived four thousand years”, swam those rivers to witness so much significant historical events in the past. Rivers such as the Nile, the Amazon or the Mississippi does not related to any cultural value to the speaker as she is a Chinese after all.

3)      The tone of the poem is nostalgic as the speaker tried to appreciate the symbol of the turtle and how it relate to her identity as a Chinese immigrant in a foreign land, she can’t feel as an American while in the same time the home tradition is almost gone from her.