Blog #7

Li-Young Lee is a poet who shows his own personal background experiences in his writings. Some of the poems we discussed in class, such as Eating Together, Persimmons, and Eating Alone, have prominent images of his father in them. I believe it can be said that his father was a special person in his life.

After reading about Lee’s childhood, it’s easy to see why most of his poems have the same theme of searching for identity. He was born in Indonesia where they were ridiculed for being Chinese and began a 5 year journey through different countries, eventually settling in the United States. Any child who lives through that is going to have emotional scars, which it is easy to see that Li-Young Lee emptied his emotions into his writings.

 Another author that we discussed whose writings relate is Jhumpa Lahiri. She is an Indian American writer who was born in London. Her parents are Bengali, and they later moved to Rhode Island. She has said the she feels a sense of “homelessness” because she is feel ties to all three countries. She even says that "No country is my motherland. I always find myself in exile in whichever country I travel to, that's why I was tempted to write something about those living their lives in exile"

Even though she feels like she is an outsider and doesn’t belong, there are obviously a lot of people who can relate to her and her writings. She has won the Pulitzer Prize for her book, Interpreter of Maladies, as well as many other awards.