An Analysis of Marriage Was a Foreign Country
“Marriage Was a Foreign Country”
Mitsuye Yamada
How does the Mitsuye Yamada’s foreign tongue contribute to the message of the poem? When the reader begins to read "Marriage Was A Foreign Country”, it is quite obvious what the writer Mitsuye is trying to convey. As I began to read further, I became intrigued by her foreign tongue. By looking at the name of the author we can assume she is originally from Japan and is going to be in America for the first time. Her tone illustrates her feelings of nervousness and excitement combined in one.
I feel the language of the poem almost makes the reader scared for her even though this is a party of history. When reading this poem I can only imagine how it would feel to enter a foreign country for the first time to be with someone I had only seen in a picture. The words “I come to be here because they say I must follow my husband so I come”, have the greatest effect. When read in the poem, this quote is separated into 5 lines. The breaks in this simple phrase illustrate the author’s difficulties speaking the English language.
I continued to read the poem over again which is when I noticed a larger break between the 4th and 5th line which makes the last line, “so I come” even more powerful. The way she says this makes the reader feel like she didn’t completely understand what was going on; almost as if she was just doing what she was told because it was a custom at the time. The language Yamada uses in this poem ultimately conveys her innocence of coming to America for the first time while helping the reader understand everything she was feeling as if it were them about to embark on such an adventure.
Mitsuye Yamada
How does the Mitsuye Yamada’s foreign tongue contribute to the message of the poem? When the reader begins to read "Marriage Was A Foreign Country”, it is quite obvious what the writer Mitsuye is trying to convey. As I began to read further, I became intrigued by her foreign tongue. By looking at the name of the author we can assume she is originally from Japan and is going to be in America for the first time. Her tone illustrates her feelings of nervousness and excitement combined in one.
I feel the language of the poem almost makes the reader scared for her even though this is a party of history. When reading this poem I can only imagine how it would feel to enter a foreign country for the first time to be with someone I had only seen in a picture. The words “I come to be here because they say I must follow my husband so I come”, have the greatest effect. When read in the poem, this quote is separated into 5 lines. The breaks in this simple phrase illustrate the author’s difficulties speaking the English language.
I continued to read the poem over again which is when I noticed a larger break between the 4th and 5th line which makes the last line, “so I come” even more powerful. The way she says this makes the reader feel like she didn’t completely understand what was going on; almost as if she was just doing what she was told because it was a custom at the time. The language Yamada uses in this poem ultimately conveys her innocence of coming to America for the first time while helping the reader understand everything she was feeling as if it were them about to embark on such an adventure.