Turtle Soup by Marilyn Chin

Turtle Soup

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?

Explorations of the Text

1)      Notice the author’s choice of the word “cauldron” in line 4. What images or connections does this word evoke? Why might the author have chosen “cauldron” rather than “pot”?

The word “cauldron” evokes a bad image which usually involve with witchcraft in fairytales. According to this poem, that word connects the emotion between the mother and the speaker. The author chose “cauldron” instead of “pot” perhaps to point out the mother’s action of cooking the turtle to be considered as bad action.

2)      Chin refers to “the Wei”, “the Yellow”, and “the Yangtze”. Why does she reference these rivers in China? Why not include the Nile, the Amazon, or the Mississippi?

She tries to make clear of the background of her mother where she is from China instead of using other places which she was not familiar of.

3)      What is the tone of this poem?

The tone of the poem is anger where the speaker was unsatisfied with her mother’s action by cooking the turtle that symbolizes longevity as stated in the first line of the second stanza, ‘You say, “Ma, you’ve poached the symbol of long life;’.

Ideas for Writing

1)      "Sometimes you're the life, sometimes the sacrifice." Write about this quote within the context of an immigrant family. What might a family gain or lose by moving to a new land?

The quote gives a deeper meaning in context of an immigrant family. It is not easy to live in a place where we are unfamiliar of. There were many reasons for the immigrant to travel to other places for example to follow their dreams, fulfill their needs and absolutely for a better life. The quote proposed that immigrants could live their life normally or to get a better life, they have to sacrifice either physically or mentally. False hopes and dreams were given to this kind of people by certain country such as United States. United States often called as “The Land of Hope” or “The Land of Dream” by those people who believe in the presence of opportunities in that country. However, a big country like this does not care about immigrants. Their own citizens were much more important to the country rather than people from other countries.

By moving to a new land, a family might gain or lose something that they have. Usually, they will gain a better living, a new beginning of life, and the second chance of improving their life. However, they might also lose something such as their motherland and their original culture. By moving to other places, it will be hard to adapt to the new surroundings where there is oppression by other people. People needs to keep their head up and be prepared mentally or physically of whatever things that might come into our life.