What’s the importance of food in this essay?
Food is a very important part of Asian culture and the connection that Change-rae had with his mother was through food. As a young boy he would finish his homework early and play with his friends so that he could run inside in time to watch his mother cook. He watched her chop everything and test the food with a keen sense of taste and he took it all in. His mother wanted more for him then to learn to cook, I believe because she felt not only that it was traditionally a woman’s but also because she knew how hard it would be growing up in America as a Korean American. He stated in the essay that it was ironic that his mother got stomach cancer because she loved to cook so much.
I think that he and his mother shared a common bond over food and that was really the only connection that he wanted to have with her because it was her passion. When he went off to school he described eating the food in the cafeteria and how he longed for a home cooked meal and when his parent brought a cooler of food to him he ate so much that he vomited. In that hotel room he mentioned that up until the point when his mother brought out the food, they really had nothing to talk about. After they left him his parents stopped on the side of the road and cried because they knew that they really had no connection with their son because his mother spent all her time in the kitchen and his father worked long hours. When he finally graduated and came home his mother told him that she would have rather had him at home all of those years because she would have liked that time with him back so they could actually connect.
In the end, Chang-rae carried his mothers’ tradition on by cooking for the family just like his mother did. He wore her apron and used the same knife she did and he did everything he could to not let the fact that her cancer was killing her divide the family. He set the table exactly like she would have and looked for her approval when that sat down to eat meals and even though she couldn’t eat in her final days he still wanted her taste approval.
Hi Dustin,
ReplyDeleteI think you're right that food was his mother's passion, and because of that, it's something the narrator enjoys. It seems common for children to take on the hobbies/passions of their parents; it's a way for them to spend time together and to gain approval.
I'm glad you shared your reflections on the ending. I'd like to hear what more people think about it.
Lauren
Hi Dustin,
ReplyDeleteI loved your last paragraph, it was exactly the point of the writer and you catch that perfectly and mentioned it in a very simple soft manner and honestly it brought tears in my eyes. When we know that we are losing somebody we recognize how important they are for us and sometimes it is too late, I hope everybody realize the importance of family and close friends and behave the way that do not bring them disappointment at the end. Thanks for your insights.
Children do seem to follow what they're parents do. I really liked your last paragraph too. I couldn't of explained it better. I liked how you mentioned everything the narrator did exactly like his mom did when she was cooking and setting the table and the apron.
ReplyDeleteHi Dustin,
ReplyDeleteI like how you mention that cooking is traditionally a woman's task and that's why his mother didn't want him cooking. I believe that's the number one reason that his mother didn't want him in the kitchen as a child. But Lee's sneaking into the kitchen, behind his mother's back, just shows how much like his mother he was. Her giving in to him because he was her soul son turned Lee into the fabric that held the family together after her passing.
Dustin,
ReplyDeleteWhat you took away from that question is different then what I interpretated it as but thank you for opening up my mind to a new idea, I liked your response.