Week 3, Question 3

Consider the details the author provides in "A Chinese Banquet". What do these (largely image-driven) details establish in the poem? Consider that these details are offered primarily in the first half of the poem but are largely absent from the second.
In the poem “A Chinese Banquet”, by Kitty Tsui the author uses image driven details in reference to the guests attire, professions and cultural heritage to establish the formality of her family. She starts the story with “It was not a very formal affair…”(554), however she then goes into detail about the young women wearing corsages except for herself. So from the beginning of the poem you see that she does not conform to her cultural or family norms. During the course of the rest of the poem the author makes reference to the expensive vehicles and vacations her family is speaking of, all the while she is enthralled with thoughts of her lover as expressed in the line “dreaming of the cloudscape in your eyes”.
As the poem progresses and the evening gets more intimate the author speaks of a time when she attempts to have an open conversation with her mother. “mother I’m gay and so happy with her” (555). This portion of the poem is less formal and more honest. The mother rejects this attempt at honesty and dismisses her daughter. The conversations in the room then digress to more guarded things such as the types of vehicles being driven by different people at the party.