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Theory of the Mother-Daughter relationship
Theory of the Mother-Daughter relationship
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In Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms, the intense interplay of food, motherhood, and sexuality yields a single harmonious product, pleasure, with which Naoe aims to reclaim her own complete identity. A forgotten woman, Naoe sits in her chair in the hall and sees all that happens around her (Goto 3). Memories of miso-shiru and crunchy daikon (5) drift through Naoe’s mind, while her daughter’s own “forsaken identity” has converted from “rice and daikon to wieners and beans” (13). Naoe’s identity is deeply rooted in the foods of her childhood and culture. Memories of her parent’s wealth and power are interwoven with memories of food. In one particular memory, Naoe and her brother Shige are so proud of their father’s success that they “play going
Naoe sumptuously describes a complexity of tastes and textures that evoke all senses: hard shells, sweet, juicy, strong garlic, spicy ginger, cream, pungent, fleshy, fresh, and “sweet as the sea” (148). Alongside these sensuous descriptions are sexual and slightly graphic depictions involving food. In the same scene, Naoe watches Tengu eat: “his mouth full of lobster meat, ginger pungent cream dripping from his lips … He licks his fingers from pinkie to his thumb. It’s good to see a body enjoy his food so much” (146). The vocabulary employs innuendo and implies an openly sexual nature to the food’s consumption with images of cream dripping from Tengu’s mouth, licking of his fingers, and having bodily enjoyment of his food. Naoe simultaneously “[coaxes] the meat from the pincers”, her face “all flush with taste, it fills the ache [her] belly has been missing” (146). The “ache” Naoe is fulfilling through food is analogous to the “dull beating ache … between [her] thighs (39). Likewise, Naoe states, “[the food] nourishes more than my body. I am replete” (147). After the meal, Naoe experiences post-climactic contentment, which suggests the complete and genuine pleasure the food brings her. This scene is likewise parallel to a scene in which Naoe strips naked in mushroom
Repeatedly through the novel, Naoe tries to recapture this feeling of “interconnectedness” found within this intersection. At the beginning of the novel, Naoe, regarding Keiko, states, “This Western food has changed you and you’ve grown more opaque even as your heart has brittled” (Goto 13). In Naoe’s perspective, Keiko’s ability to nurture, respect, and evoke “mutual pleasure” is contingent on her ability to nourish her family. Thus, Keiko’s lacklustre Western food implies a breakdown in the mother-child bond Keiko shares with not only her daughter, Murasaki, but also her own mother. Keiko supplies, but does not nourish her daughter and mother with the burnt and bland “Western food” she cooks (13), which signifies a loss of the “interconnectedness” that feeding another being brings. Conversely, Naoe and Murasaki’s profound bond is strongly embedded in Naoe feeding Murasaki pleasurable Japanese foods: “We ate, we drank, in Obāchan’s bed of feasts. Now I was tired and all roasty toasty, covered in sheets of cracker. I snuggled my head in Obāchan’s bony lap and closed my eyes to listen” (18). Unlike her mother and father, Murasaki listens to Naoe, although she cannot understand “the words [Naoe speaks]” (18). This transcendence of language suggests the intensity of Naoe and Murasaki’s bond, which is explicitly bolstered through the sharing of food and entails, as Frampton states, “mutual
Using the detail,“Dinner threw me deeper into despair,” conveys the painful feelings caused by her family at dinner (Paragraph 5). This detail indicates that Tan was continuingly losing hope that the night would get better. Tan reveals these agonizing feelings to make the reader feel compunctious. In making the reader feel sorry for her, Tan knows she can continue to misreport details in the passage without being questioned. The detail,“What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners,” emblematizes the dishonor Tan feels towards her relatives and cultural background (Paragraph 2). This detail implies that due to Tan’s attraction to Robert, she will detract her feelings of others to better her relationship with Robert. Tan used this detail to reveal that if Tan cannot better her relationship with Robert, she will become despondent. As a result of distorting details, the passage illustrates Tan’s dishonorable feelings towards her cultural
Originally the narrator admired her father greatly, mirroring his every move: “I walked proudly, stretching my legs to match his steps. I was overjoyed when my feet kept time with his, right, then left, then right, and we walked like a single unit”(329). The narrator’s love for her father and admiration for him was described mainly through their experiences together in the kitchen. Food was a way that the father was able to maintain Malaysian culture that he loved so dearly, while also passing some of those traits on to his daughter. It is a major theme of the story. The afternoon cooking show, “Wok with Yan” (329) provided a showed the close relationship father and daughter had because of food. Her father doing tricks with orange peels was yet another example of the power that food had in keeping them so close, in a foreign country. Rice was the feature food that was given the most attention by the narrator. The narrator’s father washed and rinsed the rice thoroughly, dealing with any imperfection to create a pure authentic dish. He used time in the kitchen as a way to teach his daughter about the culture. Although the narrator paid close attention to her father’s tendencies, she was never able to prepare the rice with the patience and care that her father
Ukiyo is a culture that strives to live a strictly pleasure-seeking routine. The largest flaw in this way of life, as Saikaku points out, is that its superficial nature forces people to live lives as meaningless and fluffy as its name, the “Floating World,” suggests. It is shallow in the physical sense, in that it focuses primarily on “beautiful” external appearances, and in the metaphorical sense, whereby individuals never really make deep-seated connections to anyone because of their addiction to finding these so-called pleasures. One particular character that Saikaku satirizes to embody this superficial nature of Ukiyo is the old, rotting woman found on the verandah in the episode of “A Monk’s Wife in a Worldly Temple.” He cleverly employs situational irony with this character to prove his point, as it is expected for the archetypal old woman to pass moral lessons to the younger generation. By the character’s own, sorrowful admission she claims that she “can’t forget about sex” and is going to “bite right into” (Saikaku 614) the protagonist; completely the opposite of what the audience expects her to say. This satire highlights the extent to which the Ukiyo lifestyle socially conditions individuals; the old woman is so far gone down that path that she no l...
Reading Catfish and Mandala reminded me of my cultural closeness through food. Due to being bi-ethnic I learned how to cook food from both my ethnicities, however there were times when I found myself acting like a foreigner towards certain dishes. A prime example was when I had Chitlins or pig intestines. I had eaten menudo, thanks to my Hispanic mother and this was the first time I had Chitlins, an African American dish via my paternal grandmother. Unlike Menudo, which to me has an appetizing smell and taste, Chitlins were a gray stringy putrid smelling dish. Remembering the utter dislike I obtained from that African American dish, reminded me of Pham’s experience with Vietnamese food. While there are some dishes people can’t stand, most usually embrace a dish from their culture and that helps ease some of the pain or discomfort.
The narrator has two daughters, Dee and Maggie. Dee was this cute girl who was super intelligent and sophisticated. She often saw herself as being above her mother and sister and would often make them feel stupid and bad about themselves. "She used to read to us without pity, forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice". She shows that Dee enjoyed making her mother and younger sister feel dumb about themselves because it made her feel superior. Her whole life Dee detested her family and where she came from and couldn’t wait to get away. But, still her mother worked her booty off to provide her with high education and a good life. Dee goes away to college and when she returns she is a completely different person, suddenly interested in her family; photographing them upon arrival. With her guest, new "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo", invades her mothers house taking everything in like it’s a cute display for her. Finally, when Wangero (Dee) demands that her mother give her some quilts, her mum can not take anymore. She tells Dee that Maggie, not her, will be receiving the quilts and she snaps. "I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero's hands, and dumped them into Maggie's lap. Maggie just sat
The family's personal encounters with the destructive nature of the traditional family have forced them to think in modern ways so they will not follow the same destructive path that they've seen so many before them get lost on. In this new age struggle for happiness within the Kao family a cultural barrier is constructed between the modern youth and the traditional adults with Chueh-hsin teeter tottering on the edge, lost between them both. While the traditional family seems to be cracking and falling apart much like an iceberg in warm ocean waters, the bond between Chueh-min, Chueh-hui, Chin and their friends becomes as strong as the ocean itself.
Jealousy is an innate facet of humanity, an emotion universally felt during childhood. It is through this jealousy that we begin to resent the reality that we are given. In the article “Eat, Memory: Orange Crush,” Yiyun Li recalls how influential the western product “Tang” was during her childhood. Growing up, Li remembers a time where she was resentful of her lack of Tang, desiring the “Tangy” lifestyle which was symbolic of luxury and social status in China. Through the logos of Li’s father, Li’s appeal to pathos through her childhood experiences, and the disillusionment of Li’s utopian view of Tang, Li typifies the struggle a teenager undergoes as they grow up.
...ir food reflected this. Ray's mother was not only making biscuits to feed her stomach, she was also feeding her soul with the rich culture that exists in the south. Ray accepted her mother's wisdom with a grain of salt, vowing never to become her mother. She did not become her mother, but she did acquire her mother's undying love for that which lives around her. Through the simple act of making a Cracker staple, Ray reveals the truth that she loved her mother and disapproved of her giving up on her dreams, but at the same time she embraced her mother's love for all things and for the Cracker culture that can be described simply by the food we southerners love to call soul food. It's good for the body and the soul.
During that time period, food was a woman’s primary concern, it was up to her to ensure that there was food prepared and ready for others in the household, it was her responsibility. Bynum focuses on emphasizing the fact that food
Saikaku, Ihara. Life of a Sensuous Woman. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd Ed. Volume D. Ed. Martin Puchner. New York: Norton, 2013. 591-611. Print.
Kingston’s mother takes many different approaches to reach out to her daughter and explain how important it is to remain abstinent. First, she tells the story of the “No Name Woman”, who is Maxine’s forgotten aunt, “’ Now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her can happen to you. Don’t humiliate us. You wouldn’t like to be forgotten as if you had never been born”’ (5), said Maxine’s mother. Kingston’s aunt was murdered for being involved in this situation. The shame of what Kingston’s aunt brought to the family led them to forget about her. This particular talk-story is a cautionary tale to deter Kingston from having premarital sex and to instill in her fear of death and humiliation if she violates the lesson her mother explained to her. Kingston is able to get pregnant but with the lecture her mother advises her with keeps her obedient. Brave Orchid tells her this story to open her eyes to the ways of Chinese culture. The entire family is affected by one’s actions. She says, “‘Don’t humiliate us’” (5) because the whole village knew about the pregnant aunt and ravaged the family’s land and home because of it. Maxine tries asking her mother in-depth questions about this situation, but her m...
In Maxine Kingston’s “No Name Woman” she retells the story about a tragic past family secret. Kingston reveals the horrible family dishonor of her aunt who committed suicide, and murdered her newborn son, by jumping into the family well in China. She continues to explain her thoughts and emotions evoked from her aunt’s actions. As time passes, Kingston’s opinion and thoughts change and her perspective is altered. Kingston shows an evolutionary change in opinion toward her aunt by explaining her different thoughts in different stages of her life.
With a heart-full of advice and wisdom, Dinah maturates from a simple- minded young girl to a valiant independent individual. “For a moment I weighed the idea of keeping my secret and remaining a girl, the thought passes quickly. I could only be what I was. And that was a woman” (170). This act of puberty is not only her initiation into womanhood but the red tent as well. She is no longer just an observer of stories, she is one of them, part of their community now. On account of this event, Dinah’s sensuality begins to blossom and she is able to conceive the notion of true love.
In her book Semiotics and Communication: Signs, Codes, Cultures, Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz describes the wide use of food as signs, and also as social codes. The reason foods are so useful as signs and social codes is because they are separable, easily adaptive to new environments, and it is not difficult to cook, or eat for that matter. Food is a major part of our daily lives, Not only for survival, but it plays a substantial social role in our lives. We will look deeper into the semiotics of food, how food is used as identity markers, and also the role that foods play in social change in our lives. First let us start with the semiotics of food.
...her and sister seem to enjoy the delicacy of snail meat while Eulalie is plainly disgusted by the sight of it and refers to the snails as “horrid creatures.” Ato’s mother is quite mortified that Eulalie’s taboos are also Ato’s taboos instead of the other way round. Even when the relatives think Eulalie is barren, they try to “treat” her condition the African way and this greatly annoys Eulalie. Another thing is that the family members cannot even call her name correctly and prefer to use names like “Hurere”.