Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The poem is narrated in first-person perspective by the mother’s son now as an adult.
Form and Meter
It has nine stanzas written in free verse with no particular meter.
Metaphors and Similes
The lines “…dreamed of a paradise / one unbound by war and exodus” are a metaphor for the refugee experience of immigrants from war-torn countries. The simile “Her neck tilts like a sunflower” highlights the suspense created by her mother’s expression.
Alliteration and Assonance
Alliteration appears in the line “…to shadows / stirring beneath star fruit trees”
Irony
It is ironic that the speaker states that the teaching legacy was passed on to him yet he became aware of this fact as an adult and a teacher already.
Genre
Ode
Setting
The poem is set both in the past and present. In the past, it is set in Saigon with the mother as a young woman before the speaker was born. The location in the present is unspecified but is an English-speaking nation.
Tone
Reflective; Appreciative
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: The mother. Antagonist: The obstacles the mother faced in ensuring her son achieved his dream.
Major Conflict
The speaker is figuring out the sacrifices that his mother made for their family including her aspirations to be a high school teacher.
Climax
The climax is towards the end as the speaker describes the tragic sight of their homeland ravaged by the war.
Foreshadowing
The speaker foreshadows her mother’s eventual migration as a refugee by stating she dreamt of living in a land free of “war and exodus”.
Understatement
The speaker asserts that her mother worked hard for him to spell “persistent” properly; here, he understates the process of learning a whole language.
Allusions
The poem makes allusions to the Vietnam War that led refugees to flee to other nations to restart. It describes a flourishing Saigon before the war when the people only knew of harmony.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The phrase “mind’s eye” is a metonymy for memory. “Tongue” is also a metonymy for language.
Personification
N/A
Hyperbole
The speaker uses hyperbolic imagery to describe her mother’s splendid formative years free of any burdens.
Onomatopoeia
The terms “pluck” and “thrum” are onomatopoeia.
