Magpies

Swallow Your Sorrow

Focusing on: Magpies

My initial reaction to this chapter was sorrow and depression. I felt like the weeping turtles in the pond, looking up with An- mei and her mother, at a world where "tears [did] not wash away... sorrows, [but] [fed] someone else's joy." One character that really drove me to the edge was Second Wife. Her greediness and cleverness was used to devise a horrible conspiracy against An-mei's mother. Second wife's genuine acting skills and fake kindness dragged An-mei's mother into a life of dishonor and inescapable sorrow. Her evil plots did not end there, however, for Second Wife also faked multiple suicides, slyly encouraged First Wife to intake more opium, threatened Third Wife, and advised Fifth Wife to be foolishly pompous, simply to get what she wanted. She even took An-mei's brother, Syaudi, away from her mother and claimed him as her own, making An-mei's mother's life unbearable. Even if it meant destroying other peoples' lives and dignity, Second Wife made sure that she ensured herself a life of prosperity. A scene in which I became really disappointed was when An- mei was ignorant towards her mother's intentions, and was foolishly embracing the fake pearl necklace that Second Wife gave her. I couldn't believe that she betrayed her mother over a stranger's fake act of kindness. I felt that her mother had gone through so much to lose her daughter over to a woman who had made her life a living nightmare. One paragraph that gave me feel victorious was "And on that day, I showed Second Wife the fake pearl necklace she had given me and crushed it under my foot. And on that day, Second Wife's hair began to turn white. And on that day, I learned how to shout" (272). This phrase was said by An-mei, in response to her mother's well-planned and somber suicide. I felt refreshed in the sense that An-mei's mother was able to "kill her own weak spirit so she could give [her daughter] a stronger one." I also felt grieved because of the fact that the only solution, way to make her daughter's life better was by killing herself. In the end, I was left feeling more victorious than saddened because her death had caused the beginning of Second Wife's miserably slow death.

One adjective to describe the relationship between An-mei and her mother is "sacrificing." This adjective relates more to An-mei's mother, in that she literally gave up her spirit to "give [An-mei] a stronger one." An-mei, however, also "sacrificed herself" in the sense that she chose to follow her mother, even though she knew that she would not be able to " keep [her] head lifted."

One writing technique that Amy Tan used in this chapter was simile. An example of this was shown on page 258 in which she wrote, " So behind the motorcar came a dozen or so rickshaws, bouncing up and down like crickets following a large shiny beetle." Tan's use of simile, in this scene, helped describe the motion of the rickshaws and car more precisely to the readers and also animated the scene, which made the scene more interesting to read about.

I believe that the theme of this chapter is that in times of agony and sorrow do not cry and feel pity for yourself, but instead, stand up and fight against your oppressions Letting out your sorrow through tears can only "feed someone else's joy." This theme was shown in An-mei's mother's story when she killed herself in order to make Second Wife's life miserable. Instead of feeling sorry for herself and letting Second Wife " drink her tears" she fought back and was able to become the eternal victor. This theme was also shown in the last passage as well, which described the story of hopeless farmers, and the evil birds who greedily ruined their crops. Just like An-mei's mother, these farmers did not sit and watch, but instead, persistently fought against these birds. In the end, they were able to kill off every single bird and were able to overcome their sorrow.