In 1964, during the height of the Vietnam War, Li-Young Lee and his family “arrived in the United States as political refugees” (Johnson). Due to shifting political ideas in China, Lee’s father, Mao Zedong's former personal physician, was forced to flee to Indonesia with his family, where he was arrested and tortured. From Indonesia, Li-Young Lee and his parents “then went to Japan, and to Singapore, at last making their way to Seattle,” eventually ending up in Pittsburgh (Johnson). Discrimination against Asians in America was high, and Lee experienced mistreatment at school. In order to encourage his children to learn English, Li-Young Lee’s father “read the King James Bible aloud to his family”. [.] In addition, both his parents had classical …show more content…
The fragments of the speaker’s childhood memories throughout the poem have a cohesive feel, as the italicized words draw attention to the “confusion of the spoken and the written” and act as a common feature. Lee ties in the theme of language once again as he reveals, “Other words that got me into trouble were fight and fright, wren and yarn” (Lee 29-31). Each pair of italicized words refers to a different memory from the speaker’s childhood and reveals the contrasting emotions experienced by many immigrants. “Fight and fright” expresses anger and fear as the speaker tries to adapt to life in America, while “wren and yarn” introduces a happy memory the speaker has with his mother. The repetition of persimmons throughout the poem emphasizes the speaker’s Chinese background and explores his relationship with his parents. The poem examines a happy memory the speaker has with his mother involving persimmons: “My mother said every persimmon has a sun inside, something golden, glowing, warm as my face” (Lee
The title of the short story, “Four Directions” is symbolic for Waverly’s inner misconceptions. As she goes about her life, she is pulled in different ways by her past and her present. She is torn between her Chinese heritage and her American life. She never thought that instead of being pulled in four directions, she could take all of her differences and combine them. In the end she realizes this with the help of her mother. “The three of us, leaving our differences behind...moving West to reach East” (184), thought Waverly. Her whole life she misconceived her mother’s intentions. Lindo never wanted Waverly to solely focus on her Chinese heritage, but rather combine it with her new American ways. The idea of being pulled in four
The tree “swings through another year of sun and leaping winds, of leaves and bounding fruit.” This sentence evokes images of happiness and serenity; however, it is in stark contrast with “month after month, the whip-crack of the mortgage.” The tone of this phrase is harsh and the onomatopoeia of a “whip crack” stirs up images of oppression. The final lines of the poem show the consequences that the family accepts by preserving the tree—their family heritage. When the speaker judges the tree by its cover she sees monetary value, but when she looks at the content in the book she find that it represents family. Even though times may be tough for the family, they are united by memories of their ancestors.
The descriptions and words used create the most vivid images of a mother’s escape to freedom with her son. This poem takes you on both a physical and emotional journey as it unravels through the treacherous demands of freedom. A beautiful example of her ability to rhyme both internally as well as externally can be seen here,
A Pulitzer Prize is an award for an achievement in American journalism, literature, or music. Paul Gigot, chairman of the Pulitzer Prize board, described the award as a “proud and robust tradition”. How does one carry on this robust tradition? By mastery of skilled writing technique, one can be considered for the awarding of this prize. Since its creation in 1917, 13 have been awarded annually, one of which, in 1939, was given to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings for her novel, The Yearling. Rawlings is an American author from Florida known for writing rural themed novels. Consequently, The Yearling is about a boy living on a farm who adopts an orphaned fawn. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings procured a prestigious Pulitzer Prize for her effectual use of figurative language, sensory details, and syntax.
At the beginning of the poem, the speaker starts by telling the reader the place, time and activity he is doing, stating that he saw something that he will always remember. His description of his view is explained through simile for example “Ripe apples were caught like red fish in the nets of their branches” (Updike), captivating the reader’s attention
Li-Young Lee’s poem, A Story, explores a complex relationship between a father and his five year old son. Although the poem’s purpose is to elaborate on the complexity of the relationship and the father’s fear of disappointing his son, the main conflict that the father is faced with is not uncommon among parents. Lee is able to successfully portray the father’s paranoia and son’s innocence through the use of alternating point of view, stanza structure, and Biblical symbolism.
Lee grew up in China, a country that had been ravaged by Japan, because of this this has resulted in a deep hatred for Japan that followed Henrys father all the way to his death. When reading in the paper that Japanese school teachers were being put in jail for reasons that weren’t clear, Henry's father felt relief and victory (67). Unfortunately Henry’s father wasn’t the only one with a negative impression of japan; many Americans regarded all Japanese Americans as enemies and possible spy’s, this created a torrent of hate and discrimination towards the Japanese. In reality, most, if not all, of these Japanese Americans were not spies and many didn’t care to be associated with
In this poem, there is a young woman and her loving mother discussing their heritage through their matrilineal side. The poem itself begins with what she will inherit from each family member starting with her mother. After discussing what she will inherit from each of her family members, the final lines of the poem reflect back to her mother in which she gave her advice on constantly moving and never having a home to call hers. For example, the woman describes how her father will give her “his brown eyes” (Line 7) and how her mother advised her to eat raw deer (Line 40). Perhaps the reader is suggesting that she is the only survivor of a tragedy and it is her heritage that keeps her going to keep safe. In the first two lines of the poem, she explains how the young woman will be taking the lines of her mother’s (Lines 1-2). This demonstrates further that she is physically worried about her features and emotionally worried about taking on the lineage of her heritage. Later, she remembered the years of when her mother baked the most wonderful food and did not want to forget the “smell of baking bread [that warmed] fined hairs in my nostrils” (Lines 3-4). Perhaps the young woman implies that she is restrained through her heritage to effectively move forward and become who she would like to be. When reading this poem, Native American heritage is an apparent theme through the lifestyle examples, the fact lineage is passed through woman, and problems Native Americans had faced while trying to be conquested by Americans. Overall, this poem portrays a confined, young woman trying to overcome her current obstacles in life by accepting her heritage and pursuing through her
The Vietnam War caused great destruction in Laos, and so the Lee family migrated to America, after spending a short time in refugee camps in Thailand. After settling in America, Foua gives birth to Lia, who unbeknownst to them will suffer from epilepsy soon after she is born. For four years, little Lia is admitted to hospital seventeen times, after suffering both grand and petit mal seizures. Through miscommunication and a failure to understand each other’s cultural differences, both the parents of Lia, and her American doctors, are ultimately at fault for Lia’s tragic fate, when she is left in a vegetative state.
Li-Young Lee is a brilliant contemporary poet who used his figurative language skills to write about a complex relationship between father and son. In the poem, A Story, Lee utilizes his abilities of emotional appeal and literary devices to depict a loving father who reads stories to his five year old son; fearing that one day, his son will tire of him and leave. Lee was able to use strategic literary devices such as point of view, structure, and imagery to convey the complexity of the father and son relationship.
The poem of A Story by Li-Young Lee analyzes the coming of age of a son through the eyes and emotions of a father. On the surface, it seems like a simple situation of a father telling the son a story to entertain him. But it is upon closer inspection and deep analysis that reveals the true meaning of the poem that the poet is trying to convey to the reader.
Harper begins the poem by detailing the start of the speaker’s relationship with a man, developing it through the use of metaphor and concrete diction. From the first few lines of the poem, the reader learns that the relationship was destined to be futile through Harper’s use of metaphor: “If when standing all alone/ I cried for bread a careless world/ pressed
There are a couple of similes the author uses in the poem to stress the helplessness she felt in childhood. In the lines, “The tears/ running down like mud” (11,12), the reader may notice the words sliding down the page in lines 12-14 like mud and tears that flowed in childhood days. The speaker compares a...
Not only the words, but the figures of speech and other such elements are important to analyzing the poem. Alliteration is seen throughout the entire poem, as in lines one through four, and seven through eight. The alliteration in one through four (whisky, waltzing, was) flows nicely, contrasting to the negativity of the first stanza, while seven through eight (countenance, could) sound unpleasing to the ear, emphasizing the mother’s disapproval. The imagery of the father beating time on the child’s head with his palm sounds harmful, as well as the image of the father’s bruised hands holding the child’s wrists. It portrays the dad as having an ultimate power over the child, instead of holding his hands, he grabs his wrists.
The poem contains the central idea that many of these children never understood what home really means. In Native American culture the people venerate earth and it is referred to as mother nature which we see in the poem. The rails cut right through their home but they don’t view them like the average person. They view the tracks as if they are scars across mother earths face and her face is the Native American’s homeland. She is scarred for eternity but she is perfect in their dreams. This symbolism is ironic because the children try to reach home using the railroad that ruined natural life for them and many other Native Americans. In the second stanza the speaker says “The worn-down welts of ancient punishments lead back and fourth” (15-16). Which can be talking about the marks on the children’s bodies after getting caught while running away. But the “word-down welts” can also symbolize the welts that were put on mother nature throughout history. The last five lines of the poem sums up the symbol of hope through their memories and dreams. The last line of the poem says, “the spines of names and leaves.” (20-24). The “spines” symbolize the physical strength of the children and their ability to maintain hope individually “names”, and for their tribe