Ah-Mah

Shirley Geok-Lin Lim

Shirley Geok-Lin Lim

Born in Malacca, Malaysia in 1944

Educated at a Catholic convent school under the British colonial education

She won a federal scholarship at the University of Malaya, then at the age of 24, went to graduate school and afterwards received her Ph.D. in English and American Literature Her first poetry collection, Crossing the Peninsula and other Poems, won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1980 making her the first woman and the first Asian to receive the award.

Shirley Geok-Lin Lim

She is currently a professor in the English Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Shirley also taught in Singapore and in Hong Kong as well. Areas of interest: AsianAmerican cultural productions, post-colonial literature, ethnic and feminist writing and creative writing

Overview of the Poem

"Ah Mah" is a poem about the authors grandmother. The author, Lim, describes her grandmother in detail and explains how her grandfather "bought" her grandmother. Lim describes her grandmother as a very small and thin woman (10-11). She gives the impression that her grandmother had a hard life even though it appears that the family had enough money. This poem contains many references to Chinese culture that are very interesting and inspire curiosity. By researching the culture of China, one can better understand the references to it in "Ah Mah." Then, the poem has more meaning to the reader than if he did not posses any knowledge about Chinese culture.

Literary Devices
Grandmother was smaller than
Me at eight. Had she Been child forever? Helpless, hopeless, chin sharp As a knuckle, fan face Hardly half-opened, not a scrap Of fat anywhere; she tottered In black silk, leaning on

Soochow flower song girl.

Every bone in her feet Had been broken, bound tighter Than any neighbors sweet Daughters. Ten toes and instep Curled inwards, yellow petals Of chrysanthemum, wrapped In gold cloth. He bought the young

Handmaids on two tortured

Fins. At sixty, his sons all Married, grandfather bought her

Face, small knobby breasts

He swore hed not dress in sarong Of maternity. Each night

Literary Devices
He held her feet in his palms Like lotus in the tight Hollow of celestial lakes. In his calloused flesh, her Weightless soles, cool and slack Clenched in his strangers lever

Symbolism

Silk & Soochow flower song girl - wealth Tortured fins - bound feet Yellow petals of chrysanthemum - bound feet

PERSONAL INSIGHTS
Reported by: Mary Grace Ascutia Justine Leonard Salvador