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- the green crystal, Jade, appears in many legends about the creation of the world
- the Chinese legend of Pangu --> his body became the physical world --> his bone marrow became pearl and jade
- Jade Mountain: home to the Queen Mother of the West 西王母 <-- (as detailed in the 山海經 <-- Chinese text about Mythological geography)
- "冰清玉洁" (Clear as ice, clean as jade) <-- to be pure and noble
- 2 most famous stories about Jade:
"Mr. He and His Jade", and "Returning the Jade Intact to Zhao"
- Both stories are about one specific piece of Jade: 和氏璧 (represented power)

Confucius speaking about the values of Jade:
"Jade is precious not because it is rare, but because the quality of jade corresponds to virtue. It relates to such virtues as benevolence, wisdom, righteousness, propriety, loyalty, and trustworthiness, and it also corresponds to the ways of the heaven and earth. Jade is mild and gentle, just like a benevolence. Jade has a fine texture yet it is solid, just like a wise person; with a careful, meticulous and thorough way of handling things. Though jade has edges and corners, it is not sharp and will not hurt others, resembling a sense of justice and uprightness. When the jade is hung, it symbolises polite restraint and prudence. When it is struck, it releases a clear and spirited sound like music. Though jade is beautiful, blemishes do not obscure its merits. Just like loyalty, it is without bias and without the need to conceal. In addition, the colour of jade can be seen from all angles. Just like trustworthiness, a person's behaviour is consistent with words. Even in a darkened room, a person is trustworthy and does not cheat others. Jade is crystal like, glittering and translucent as a white rainbow, like the white clouds of heaven, which harmonize the heavens and correspond to heavenly principles. The spirit of the jade can be seen in the landscape, like ‘when jade lies in a deep pool, it makes the river enchanting. When jade rests on the mountain, the grass becomes luxuriant.’ Wherever located, it is bound to have an effect, just like a noble demeanour can harmonize many things and benefit the whole region. People everywhere cherish jade, which is because people respect and admire virtue. The noble virtues are the manifestation of heavenly principles.”

How Jade is Relevant to Sarah Howe in "Loop of Jade"
- Jade represents resilience, strength, will --> all skills that Sarah Howe has in the poem
- manages to live a normal life despite the terrible living conditions (cockroaches, wok as a latrine), the food she has to eat (rice in daily thinning soup), using the floor-scouring detergent as a shampoo replacement, the mocking from her classmates
- cultural similarities (Jade is a deep part of Chinese culture, Sarah Howe is part Chinese and is exploring her cultural identity)

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Generally first person in the long paragraphs

Italicized stanzas - Third person

Very little change in narration style

Disinterested tone to make disturbing details more stark(How despite… sweets)

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First stanza: Comprises mainly of all long and convoluted sentences with many commas.

Second stanza: Long and convoluted sentences.

Third stanza: Another half of a sentence continuing from the second stanza

Fourth stanza: Short sentence

Fifth stanza: Abnormal capitalization in sentences. Short sentences.

Enjambment: “A pendant of milk-green

Jade was meant to bind

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Rhyme and rhythm:

Stressed syllables in the poem:

A pendant of milk-green Jade was meant to bind Our two young lovers.

So when Zhu was given to another, older man, Liang’s winged heart stopped it’s fluttering.

Rhyme and rhythm

Capitalization: So when Zhu was given To another, old man, Liang’s winged heart Stopped its fluttering.

Page 15 - Capitalization of every first letter.

“ They interred him by The mountain road. From the casement’s High lattice she wept:”

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Spaces in between words

Starting paragraphs with another half of a sentence

White Space

Line breaks

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-Extremely peculiar / unique type of style.

-Punctuation is fragmented, and there is many pauses, almost unnecessary; not the type of punctuation that a reader would find in a published book.

-However we feel that it was done on purpose to make it seem like the author is directly telling the story to you .

-The style of telling the story seems to be transcribed, and feels as if the author directly put her speech onto paper.  However, not to the extent where it is informal.
P18

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Use of juxtaposition and contrastAnd hyperbole 

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Use of juxtaposition and contrastAnd hyperbole 

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-A lot of juxtaposition in the vocabulary: ‘watching her wade…. One dredged step and a time.

-In many sentences, Howe will use different techniques to help illustrate her memory.

-Using language that is clearly exaggerated and then incorporating juxtaposition creates a blow to the audience that hits extra hard.  Comparing Chinese to English P14 stanza 4 p15

-Exaggerations in language that helps reinforce the pain and hardships her mother had to go through.  Overall just enhances the descriptions.

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-Non-linear poem, Howe is able to use almost a prose form of text which is unusual to see in a poem.

- In the prose Howe recalls memories about her stepmother using imagery and vivid descriptions (first person as a child) of specific interactions that she remembers of her mother.

-adjectives and personification is also employed in the different sections of prose (words like Obscene, glistening, descriptions about the cockroaches) to help the reader grapple the main themes that Howe is trying to communicate. (Family, identity, relationships)

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Sounds of words eg onomatopoeia, assonance, alliteration, consonance

Examples - Onomatopoeia

Page 14 - The brightest smack of lightning will induce(can this be right?) the bunk’s iron frame, like some kind of celestial tuning fork, to zing with a preternatural hum-----

An inch from the wrought bar’s buzzing, her child’s hand trembles.(page 14)

In those days, in her early forties, in a new country, she spoke more slowly than now, and with a subtle, near-constant nasal hum, more of a nnnnnnnnnnnnng in the playground(page 15)

With a clap of thunder(page 17)

It thuds into my chest, this pendant ring of milky jade

Examples - Assonance:

Page 13:

- Once she spoke of her horror(Vowel o) reinforcing meanings

- Our two young lovers(page 13)

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Use of humour in its various forms eg sarcasm, wit, puns, oxymorons, irony

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Use of humour in its various forms eg sarcasm, wit, puns, oxymorons, irony

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Sarah mocks her mother's unusal chinese accent

A tic the local children mocked me for - that nnnnnnnnnnnnnnng in the playground - as I tried not to be ashamed.

Use nnnnnnnnnnnnnnng to represent her mother

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Family Background - Nostalgic (Mixed Background)

Hong Kong & Guangdong (her mother and grandmother’s memory)

Searching for identity

Accomplish what her mother hadn’t (destiny)

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“The logic runs like this: if baby falls, the loop of stone - a sacrifice - will shatter in her place. “

“And if I break it now - will I be saved?”

歲歲（碎碎）平安 direct translate: break break peace

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Allusions to other literary works, characters, myths etc

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Allusions to other literary works, characters, myths etc

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Butterfly Lovers - Zhu YingTai / Liang Shanbo

Stanzas inserted in between the description and Sarah's memory of her mother.
chinese romantic classic
sense of cultural diversity

Shakespeare - girl dressing as boy to go to school / war

This suggests how sarah likes classic literature
cross dressing and go to war part worries Sarah's mother and stated my mother heard about it had me sent back to her.

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Use of rhetoric questions, statements, commands

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Use of rhetoric questions, statements, commands

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Continues the story

Never ending story

Shows uncertainty

Page 19 - Painfully knelt on the altar step, did the old woman shake out a sheath of red-tipped sticks, and pick one, to entreat my fate?
And if I break it now - will I be saved?

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Figurative language (eg: simile, metaphor, personification)

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Figurative language (eg: simile, metaphor, personification)

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Simile: The brightest smack of lighting will induce (can this be rights?) the bunk's iron frame, like some kind of celestial tuning fork, to zing with a preternatural hum-
give the readers a more vivid imagery of the thunderstorm and its strength.

Metaphor: I feel my own palm magnetise to hers.
The word magnetise suggests the strong bond between mother and child and how her mother is able to comfort Sarah.

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Distant

Flashback

Confused

Unconscious

Page 15 - She tells these and other stories with a pause-pocked, melodic, strangely dated hesitancy.

Page 16 - Her longest and most empty pause, I’ve learned, comes before the word mother.

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- There are quite a few references to traditional

Chinese culture:

-blessing from elder relatives

-mentioning  of mandarin film scores, cantonese and

Shanghainese etc.

-Jade pendant
-Lack of complete understanding of culture

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1) Nature of conflict eg external, internal

Internal:

Howe trying to find her identity (Mix between english and chinese)

Relationship with parents (Her mother was abandoned as a baby)

External:

Explaining how her mother and her mother’s mother did not have a good relationship, she’s trying to find where she stands with her mother

Accepting and honouring (?) what others make fun of her mother for?

2) Orientation, rising complication, climax, resolution, denouement

No set structure -> Chinese poem / song separates Howe’s monologue to relate it back to chinese culture and creates a stronger link to “Jade”.

Orientation: First paragraph, info about mother’s background

Rising Complication: Her mother’s experiences that build up tension and suspense

Denouement: Baby Loop of Jade reference “will I be saved”

3) Outside events that are ‘contextual’ eg already taken place, current events in society, predicted events

Migration (Moved from Hong Kong to England when she was 7, completely different environment)

Different Cultures (Howe was born to a British father and Chinese mother, mother brought up in Hong Kong, she was brought up in England mostly)

Wealth Gap (Mother’s mother was very poor, she was in foster houses a lot, Howe had a very privileged childhood)

4) Parallel plotting, linear plots, use of flashback etc

Non linear

Variety of timelines

Stories happening between writer and mother as well as mother and mother’s mother

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History

Family history

The mother’s experience growing up and how different it was from her own experiences.

What others say about them

Playground incident (Writer’s mother made fun of about accent)

How they say it

The mother’s accent (nnnnnging, pauses - broken english)

She compares the West and the East to relate her two identities “blackened , static wok the size of a Western baby’s bath…”

Relationships with other characters

Talks about the mother and the mother’s relationship with her mother

Mother and grandmother distant relationship (living with different people)

Writer and mother better relationship but when Howe was younger she was ashamed of her mother because of her accent “subtle, near-constant nasal hum”

Appearance

Mother: lovely black hair with burns in it (from the floor detergent)

Race: Mother -> Chinese, Howe -> Mixed

Age: changes through poem both Howe and mother

Dialogue

Relationships within the family (mother to mother, husband to wife - when it’s someone else’s turn to listen)

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- There are quite a few references to traditional

Chinese culture:

-blessing from elder relatives

-mentioning  of mandarin film scores, cantonese and

Shanghainese etc.

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Cockroaches:

suggests poor living condition and the harsh reality.

The story was told by her mother about the communal kitchen.

The setting of this story suggests how Sarah's mother financial background is quite bad

Pendant of milk green jade:

Jade are valuable as they would be made into jewelries

A symbol for wisdom and age

Often passed down from generation to generations

Thunder:

A strong imagery that is able to bring out the image and personality of her mother

the line "she huddles closer to the other girls".

She is able to comfort those who are afraid of the thunder.

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A nonlinear poem

Two stories happening at the same time parallely:

1. Poet recalling the memories of her mother

2. The story of Butterfly Lovers.

Descriptive

Casual

Different  types of stanzas are distinct from the length of each line

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-"Painfully knelt on.....to entreat my fate?"What is her fate?

-The Loop resembles the family tradition, where it is never ending of hate.

-The Jade binds Zhu and Liang, even when they are dead.

-If author breaks the jade to protect her, it might break the relationship with her mother?

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- English father Chinese mother
- Cultural Diversity
- Evidence:
- Low-rise tenement vs. Wok
- "Joss-stick incense"
- Zhu and Liang
- "Caged cricket"

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- stories which she heard from her mother,

draw connections from events which occurred in the past, with the interactions between the author’s mother and her grandmother in a historical setting which exists in her mother’s memory and is explored through her stories.

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Narration style – 1st, 2nd or 3rd; changes?

1st person narration, Sarah Howe seems to be delivering her speech herself personally, all subjects are led by “I”

Sounds of words eg onomatopoeia, assonance, alliteration, consonance

When describing Sarah Howe’s mother, a portion of the poem is dedicated to her peculiar nasal hum, written out as an “nnnnnnnnnnnnnnng”. This provides a detail understandable to an audience unfamiliar with the Cantonese language, perhaps an attempt to stoke the audience’s interest by allowing them to try the sound themselves.

-Sentence structure-

Sarah Howe style is specifically designed to be read a specific way, with long pauses that the reader should interpret and should show when reading the poem. (stanza 28-34 page 18-19)

Use of emotive or biased language, positive, negative or neutral

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Poet and Mother
- distance due cultural difference and different upbringing
Mother and Grandmother
- not very close
- Mother calls her own Mother "Mother" - very formal

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- "the butterfly lovers".
When the loop of jade links with the myth of Zhu and Liang
- the use of the loop: it breaks in baby's place, interferes with fate

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Symbolism - Loop of Jade? Butterfly?

Figurative language: many comparisons with metaphors (examples?)

Use of humour in its various forms

Themes

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Howe and Mother

Howe doesn’t respect her mother, due to culture

Mother has a weird accent, unlike her own English accent, embarrassed by it

Creating a rather awkward and a relationship that is not close

Doesn't respect mother, "I sometimes think she wasn't very reliable my mother. What she told me, I don't know how much I can believe."

Can't even call her own mother "mother", Howe loses respect

Howe and Grandmother

Grandmother cares for Howe

Blessed by the jade

Although Howe didn’t talk much about her own grandmother from her own perspective, the fact that her grandmother blessed Howe with the jade to protect her shows how much she cares about her

Howe and the Man

“Looking back it was better than the school on Macau. I learned more at his house.”

What the Man taught are not things people learn everyday at school. The Man taught things such as old stories, classical legends and tales, etc

Big part of childhood and relationship is memorable, creating a relationship that used to be close

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Non-linear structure: starts with description of setting w/ poverty; moves on to description of mother and reflects on her experiences

Mostly prose, but varies in text type

Language flow:

“There was    a man in a nearby district. When I was young and my mother… etc”

Punctuated with poetry -> Chinese

Irregular line length

Stanzas with ambiguous ending and punctuation

Interruptions are frequent

Paragraph ends with: “Subtle, near-constant nasal hum, more of a nnnnnng - so natural to Cantonese -”

Cultural context?

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Childhood memories:

Howe has many childhood memories that she shares with her mom for example (when all the lights are off, and she is in the living room with her mom, her mom tends to tell her some stories about her own childhood)

Living Environments

We do not know much about Howe’s living environment but we do know that her mother did not seem to have a very comfortable life (used detergent used for scrubbing the floor to wash her hair, kitchen was a pan the size of a western’s baby bath, right next to a latrine with cockroaches)

Jade representing culture of Chinese:

Jade is not popular in other cultures, but is particularly popular in chinese culture, babies are given jade when young for good fortune, safety and luck)

Chinese Culture:

Stories being told such as the two young lovers bound by the jade

Mixed cultures because Howe talks about the Theremin strings in a Mandarin Film Score, talks about Jade when she talks about Christmas, with the violin or piano from Western Culture