I Ask My Mother to Sing

The women in “I Ask My Mother to Sing” symbolize history and continuity. Lee asks his mom to sing, but by Line 2, his mom turns into a daughter, and his grandma becomes the mom. The women represent Lee’s family across multiple generations. Through their singing, the women bring Lee, another generation, to a place that he hasn’t visited: China. In the poem, singing represents possibility. With the song, the speaker can access a country that he’s never been to. The singing gives the speaker the resources to intangibly travel to China and imagine what he might see.

Conversely, the singing throws Lee back in time. The song makes him think about what might have been if his family hadn’t left China, and then Indonesia, and came to the United States. The singing symbolizes a type of nostalgia. It makes him think of moments he will never possess. To counter this unfulfilled past, the speaker creates wistful memories out of his imagination. As with nostalgia, the memories whitewash reality. The tears of the mom and grandma imply that their history was far from idyllic. Life in China was not carefree and easy. As Lee’s biography demonstrates, Lee’s family had more to worry about than rain getting in the way of a picnic.