Reader: Regina Richardson
Respondent: Dr. White [Lori Gouner]
Recorder: Jennifer Laubach

“A Story About Chicken Soup”

by

Louis Simpson

Unsettling America 245

Louis Simpson was born in Jamaica, West Indies in 1923, and he currently lives in Setauket, New York.  His father was a lawyer of Scottish descent and his mother of Russian descent.  Simpson emigrated to the United States at the age of 17, studied at Columbia University, then served in World War II with the 101st

Airborne Division on active duty in France, Holland, Belgium, and Germany.  After the war, Simpson continued his studies at Columbia. At Columbia, Simpson earned a Ph.D., and he went on to teach there. Louis Simpson has published 12 books of verse; five books of literary criticism; a novel, Riverside Drive; an autobiography, North of Jamaica; and 17 books of original poetry.  Simpson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for a book of poems, At the End of the Open Road.  “A Story about Chicken Soup” is a poem from this book.

The poem is written from the viewpoint of a second-generation immigrant (literary objective 2a).  This poem may be memories from Simpson’s childhood with his grandmother, or Simpson’s perspective of the Jewish holocaust during World War II as a soldier (cultural objective 1b).

Simpson divides the poem into three sections.  The first section is filled with personal and vivid images: my grandmother’s house, the old country—mud and boards.  Along with chicken soup, this introduction makes the reader feel homesick for the past.  The last lines of the first section—The Germans killed them all-- abruptly triggers bitter memories that are associated with the immigrant homeland (cultural objective 6).

In the second section the reader is transported to a real place, Berchtesgaden, where soldiers encounter a German girl-child.  The author describes the child as

“Cuckoo” because she sits by the stream and laughs at the soldiers.  The innocent child is unaffected by the war, whereas the soldiers know only the horror of war.  “We have killed her mechanical brothers, so we forgave her.”  This line is interesting because it appears that no responsibility is taken regarding the deaths of Jewish people.

The third section expresses the hopelessness within a concentration camp.  The sun shining contrasts with the shadows of lovers and makes the reader feel the author’s present and past experiences are intertwined.  Painted sunshine and tragic world provoke the reader to acknowledge that the author can not escape the darkness of past memories.

After reading this poem about chicken soup, what do Americans see about the immigrant homeland that immigrants do not see?

CLASS COMMENTS:

Julie: Hope.  Like with the sunshine.

Regina: But is it real sunshine?

Dr. White: The Old World keeps drawing him back. Similar to Sara in Bread Givers, the shadow of Father follows her.

Cristel: The last section sounds almost like the military.  It could either be the Military or a concentration camp.  Also, the second section does not say Jewish child.  Could mechanical brothers be tanks?

Sarah: Mechanical brothers could also be soldiers who operated under Hitler.

Regina: Men controlled by the state do what they are told.

Dr. White: I agree with both points. The poem does mention yellow hair.

Cristel: Aryan traits.

Dr. White:  Cuckoo is also mechanical.  Also room with many others is similar to the Old World.  What about the first stanza?

Regina:  The grandmother’s house and chicken soup are nostalgic reminders.  Mud and boards remind you of the poverty of the Old World.

Terri: The rice-powdered face of lovers lets you know it was a time of innocence.

Ginger: What does stick in mudholes mean?

Regina: As Cristel said, it may be a reference to the military.  Sometimes the men go into the field and stay 30 days even when it is raining.  Mudhole may be where they sleep.

Dr. White: It could also go back to mud and boards in the first stanza, the Old World. In America we tend to live in a world of abundance without nostalgia.

Regina: We also live in a world where we are exposed to violence and become desensitized, but this author is obviously not desensitized to his past.