The bitter taste of salt

Monique Truong uses salt for a metaphor in The Book of Salt. Salt is somewhat bitter and Binh is bitter about many parts of his life. He has bitter feelings toward his father due to the physical and verbal abuse that he suffered through as a child. His father was somewhat bitter concerning the thought of his wife having a business, and this is because he considered the word business to be only associated with men. He also seems to have a bitter hatred of women and this is shown in how he talks about his wife and how he treats her. It is terrible how his father treats Binh and yet he has his favorite son, Minh. Minh does truly accomplish assimilation into the French culture and does try to help Binh with the assimilation process as well. He does this by teaching him French and by teaching him how to cook in a way that will secure Binh a good job so that he can support himself. Problems of quality employment are also present in parts of this book and are shown in ways like they were in Drown. Both books demonstrate how hard it is to find really good employment and how employers treat these people and listen to what they have to say like tossing a grain of salt into the air. Binh is also bitter about how others view homosexuality and consider it to be some sort of sickness that is not curable. Also, many different religions and cultures frown upon homosexuality and consider it a sin. It's somehwat ironic that Binh lands a job with Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas since they are both homosexuals. There is also a look of talk concerning food and many of these foods are things that one would find in an ocean or a sea which of course contains salt. Other foods mentioned, especially while Binh is taking Chef Blerior to the vendors is also somewhat strong and bitter. For instance when Binh is talking about the onions and garlic. These items definitely have strong somewhat salty odors. The metaphor of salt definitely plays a role throughout the book.

Blu's Hanging

Blu's Hanging by Lois-Ann Yamanaka is a novel that contains so many different types of abuse that it makes me glad that I grew up with the parents I had. Almost everyone who reads this probably feels this way. Not only is there both physical and verbal child abuse taking place, but child neglect was very present in the story. I felt Poppy was such a horrible person. I realize that it is difficult when we lose someone we love, but one needs to pick themselves up and do what is right or at the very least do the best they can, especially when there are children involved. Where does Poppy get off putting all the responsibility on Ivah, and if that wasn't enough he blamed her for many things? It wasn't her fault Blu was raped or that her mother died. One can see how isolated and trapped that Ivah, Blu, and Maise must of felt, and Poppy constantly being in his own world made life more horrible for his children. Yamanaka made it clear to readers with her first couple of sentences that the family was extremely poor and this was shown with the descriptions of what they ate on a regular basis. Adding to this was the part that told how they were no longer able to charge food at the Friendly Market. Poor Ivah had so much responsibility at such a young age. The things that these children endured mad me sad. Child abuse was not the only abuse taking place in the neighborhood. The descriptions of the things that happened to the cats and dogs is horrible. Locking poor dogs up until they die is terrible and why anyone would want to do this is beyond me. Uncle Paulo needed to be locked up or at the very least in a pyche ward. I liked how Maise wrote the horrible things on his house because I felt everyone in the neighborhood should know what he really was. The sad thing here is that I think everyone in the neighborhood realized this, yet no one did nothing. Anyone that tortures both animals (cats) and children is a terrible person and has something seriously wrong with them, or at least one would think so. The repeating of only phrases by Maise perhaps suggest how tormented and withdrawn that she was. She was constantly stating the words, "mama, and scared." This shows what a dark place Maise must of been in. Obviously Maise had some problems expressing herself and one of the high points in the novel is when she is able to read and communicate with others. Ivah finally gets some sort of resolution in the end with her going off to school, no thanks to Poppy though. Overall, I enjoyed this book even though there were so many upsetting things that happened to Ivah, Maise, and Blu.