Diasporic literature primarily encompasses written works by authors that reside outside of their native land, most usually referring to first or second-generation immigrants. Consecutively, the genre inherently thematically portrays the challenges that come along with immigration; for instance, societal discrimination, prejudice embedded within the law, loss of one’s culture, conflicting identities, conflicting values between generations, etc. One consistent theme amongst many diasporic works is the portrayal of intergenerational trauma—trauma that permeates across generations and inflicts psychological damage onto the succeeding generations of a family due to their past being tied with traumatic historic events. Diasporic literature often encompasses postmemory: traumatic memories that aren’t necessarily directly experienced by the diasporic subject but rather, are handed down across generations to an extent that they become memories in their own right. These traumatic memories underlyingly play an integral role in shaping the diasporic subject’s identity and consecutively, their experiences and relationship with their culture. Most often, the intense nature of the trauma often favors its portrayal in an underlying rather than overt manner. Hence, authors deliberately employ writing techniques and conventions that facilitate the portrayal of this trauma in a subliminal due to the psychologically subconscious nature of the trauma. To do so, they often invoke representational aporia through figurative language such as symbolism and metaphors so as to force the audience to read between the lines and infer deeper psychological impacts on the characters. This is particularly evident in Madeleine Thien’s “Simple Recipes”—most notably, through the use of food symbolism and food metaphors that act as a form of representational aporia to present the characters ’trauma in an underlying manner. Here, food acts as a translucent barrier that allows the audience to read deeper meanings ingrained in the metaphors below the surface level. Through this essay, I aim to argue that Madeleine Thien’s portrayal of intergenerational trauma in “Simple Recipes” is primarily constructed through two factors— structure and form; and representational aporia, particularly through the use of food metaphors and symbolism. I will be asserting that Thien intricately weaves together themes of home, culture, and food to portray intergenerational trauma in a multi-faceted approach. To do so, I will be referring to two texts—“At Home In Memory Lane: A Formal and Thematic Analysis of Madeleine
Thien’s Simple Recipes” by Silke Lenaerts and “Food and Trauma: Anthropologies of Memory and Postmemory” by Mattias Strand.
To begin with, Mattias Strand suggests in his “Food and Trauma: Anthropologies of Memory and Postmemory”, food and postmemory and inherently interconnected. Postmemory, in this context, refers to any underlyingly traumatic memory that isn’t directly accessible to the diasporic mind; hence, the trauma often resides in stories, memories, images, or behaviors. Often, in connection to diasporic literature, these memories evidently link to culture-centric conflicts, particularly, conflicting identities as a result of growing up in a dual-culture environment. The conflict between the native culture and the culture of the new homeland is often presented through symbolic anecdotes. Here, food plays an integral role as it is central to the construction of one’s ethnic identity. Not only is it a primary sensory experience, but it also plays a fundamental role in the construction of nostalgia in relation to culture. It has the capability to construct as well as destruct cultural identity and a culture’s societal image within a community. Moreover, as evident within “Simple Recipes”, food memories are collective communal activities, once again emphasizing the cultural aspect of food. Here, it is evident that food plays an integral role in the construction of collective cultural identity; however, it may also be a vehicle for conflict if it clashes with the diasporic subject’s individual construction of identity, for instance, in the case of the son in “Simple Recipes”.
Madeleine Thien evidently invokes postmemory through food metaphors throughout the narrative. Most notably, she deliberately and repetitively invokes uses the rice cooking metaphor.
This can be interpreted in multiple manners: first of all, considering that despite the tradition being passed on, the narrator could never carry out the recipe with the exact same care as her father. One may infer that this portrays the loss and fading of one’s culture once moving away from their native land. Secondly, considering that the father washes the rice to remove the imperfections, this ritualistic sense of cleansing is a metaphor for trying to cleanse her own psyche and reconciling juxtaposing memories—traumatic ones and ones she cherishes—of her family. The use of the word “simple” in simple recipes is somewhat underlyingly ironic because although the recipe is simple, which connotates that it is easy, the narrator is still unable to carry it out successfully on her own.
Similarly, this is a metaphor for her familial relationships wherein her love for her father is simple on the surface, yet their relationship is extremely complex just like her brother’s relationship with his culture.
It is essential to note that Madeleine Thien’s narrative form and structure play an integral role in facilitating the construction of intergenerational trauma. The narrative appears fragmented due to its alternating temporality. These temporal alterations occur with minimal indications which creates a fragmented feel to the text. This fragmented structure is a deliberate formal device used to portray the fragmented nature of the narrator’s mind. To elaborate, the text alternates between scenes of what is presumably the narrator’s present and her childhood. This temporal manipulation is often conducted through the use of transitory elements that either evoke feelings of nostalgia or trigger traumatic memories within the narrator. For instance, objects like the fish, the dirt, bruises, and evoking the show Wok With Yan are done repetitively, yet with seemingly no overt connection to one another. However, it is these objects that trigger memories within the narrator and allow her to transition from her present to her past memories within her mind. The narrative seemingly follows her psychological thought process. This is evident when Strand writes that postmemory often shows up in the form of intrusive flashbacks or traumatic memories that surface in fragments, conventionally often through repetitive portrayals of certain objects.
Moving forth, as Lenaerts writes in her “At Home In Memory Lane: A Formal and Thematic Analysis of Madeleine Thien’s Simple Recipes”, Thien develops the concept of ‘home ’in “Simple Recipes” in a dual manner—metaphorically as well as literally. Metaphorically, the text constructs home as a manifestation of belongingness or a family unit whereas literally, it constructs home through the physical space and geographical location of residence. This is intrinsically connected to postmemory as the 2nd generation immigrant, being the narrator of the story, inherits memories of their native culture, yet must create new memories in a new homeland by being assimilated into a new culture. This not only causes a conflict between the individual’s internal identity but also creates a platform for familial conflict as evident in Thien’s story. Lenaerts quotes Löschnigg when reemphasizing that food is the most relevant marker of culture (Löschnigg 13); which is the primary purpose behind the prevalence of food metaphors that are present across the narrative of “Simple Recipes”. For instance, Lenaerts notes, the primary conflict in the narrative is food-centric. The son’s refusal to eat the fish symbolizes his larger refusal of his culture. This culminates in a physical altercation between the father and the son wherein the son throws the fork whereas the father slams the chopsticks. Here, the fork is evidently westernized whereas chopsticks are an Asian form of cutlery, underlyingly insinuating the inherent role of culture in the conflict. Moreover, the tool used by the father to punish his son is a bamboo, another Asian tool. Moreover, the use of diction in this part of the narrative is particularly interesting as the narrator—and consecutively Thien as the autodiegetic voice—states that the father’s hand “falls” or the bamboo “drops”. This selective diction of verbs connotates a lack of intention which allows the reader to infer that the narrator does not acknowledge the intention behind her father’s actions or that she is in denial of his act. It portrays the depth of intergenerational trauma inflicted on the narrator’s psyche while simultaneously subduing the portrayal of violence in the narrative. This is particularly interesting considering that the narrator uses extensive imagery to describe her fond and cherished memories of cooking with her father. This is a stark contrast to the fast-paced and non-descriptive nature of her description of the conflict in the household. This narratively portrays the son’s intergenerational trauma through the physical abuse as well as the narrator’s psychological views of witnessing violence in a space of security and home.
Moreover, Thien also uses temporal manipulation to portray a contrast between the two generations, once again, through emphasizing on the construction of ‘home’. This is also directly connected to food—the narrator’s difference between her childhood home being described using diction such as ‘greasy ’and ‘thick ’versus her new present home being starkly different. The fish is also used to symbolize the father’s state of being out of place and dying slowly in a foreign environment.
Other than the food, Thien also emphasizes on the importance of language, yet notes its limits of expressivity. The son rejects his native Malaysian language whereas the daughter connects with yet, yet struggles with it. Similarly, the son rejects his native Malaysian cuisine whereas the daughter connects with that too. This portrays the father’s juxtaposing responses to his two children, notably portraying the significance of willingness to integrate and accept both cultures. The language barrier is brought up by the narrator multiple times, mostly in a nostalgic manner that suggests she connects with it. However, Thien’s very use of representational aporia and using objects (such as food) to symbolize trauma portray the limited capacity of language to portray extensive psychological wounds. Lastly, the father’s trauma is also presented through his nostalgia and love for his homeland. His self-deprecating humor is evident when he references Wok With Yan but makes fun of him while watching him on television. It also portrays how discrimination was integrated into societal practices through small comments and jokes that increasingly deterred her father’s mental health.
Hence, it is evident that Simple Recipes ties together the concept of home, food, and culture to portray intergenerational trauma in a manner that transcends through various levels and manifests in different characters in different ways, for instance, the brother’s physical abuse, the psychological wounds of the narrator, the parents ’historical trauma, and the immigrant shame faced by the son and the father. Thien deliberately structures the form of her narrative in a manner that creates a platform for portraying intergenerational trauma through postmemory and representational aporia: the fragmented nature uses symbolic transitory elements that metaphorically portray trauma in a subliminal way for the audience to infer due to the inherently inaccessible nature of the psyche.
Works Cited
At home in memory lane: A formal and thematic analysis of Madeleine … (n.d.). Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://libstore.ugent.be/fulltxt/RUG01/002/271/894/RUG01- 002271894_2016_0001_AC.pdf
M;, S. (n.d.). Food and trauma: Anthropologies of memory and Postmemory. Culture, medicine and psychiatry. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35377110/
Aguila-way, Tania “Simple Recipes.pptx”, ENG252H1, 2022, University of Toronto Thien, M. (2017). Simple Recipes . In Simple recipes. essay, Math Paper Press.
