Eating Together

The Mandarin word for “fish” is yu––a homophone for, or word that sounds the same as, the word that means wealth. Because of its importance to the nurturing comfort created by the lunch that brings the family together at the hearth, the trout thus symbolizes abundance. The speaker and their family aren’t conspicuously wealthy, but they are not materially deprived. The lunch is simple, but it is wholesome and flavorful: The family prepares it with “slivers of ginger, / two sprigs of green onion, and sesame oil” (Lines 2-3). The seasonings enrich the meal’s centerpiece, allowing the family to enjoy the familiarity of Chinese cuisine. The lunch is also plentiful enough to be shared with the speaker’s siblings, their mother, and the memories of their dead father. Through the trout, the speaker experiences the richness of his family.

However, the trout also symbolizes death. The fish was once a living creature. Someone killed it, making it fit for human consumption. When the speaker and their family eat the trout, the poem connects the trout’s death to the death of the speaker’s father, as befits Lee’s belief that death is always a part of life.