Eating

Reminiscing

Sharing meallooking to future

Food helps him connect with memories of his father.

Pears, cooked onions/rice

Eating—connection to family

Food—metaphor for loneliness

Metaphor for family togetherness

Life and death

IN THE POEM, “EATING ALONE” BY LI-YOUNG LEE, FOOD IS USED AS A METAPHOR FOR THE LONELINESS
THAT THE SPEAKER HAD AFTER HIS FATHER’S DEATH; IN THE CORRESPONDING POEM, “EATING
TOGETHER,” THE SAME IDEA OF FOOD IS USED AS A METAPHOR FOR TOGETHERNESS. IN BOTH OF THE
POEMS, FOOD SYMBOLIZES THE CYCLE OF LIFE

I. In the poem “Eating Alone,” his descriptions of food are a metaphor for loneliness. The last
stanza of the poem describes a very delicious meal in great detail; but the poet implies that
there is no purpose to a meal as nice as this one without someone to share it with. The
stanza reads:
White rice steaming, almost done. Sweet green peas
fried in onions. Shrimp braised in sesame
oil and garlic. And my own loneliness.

The expression “almost done” implies anticipation, and the great detail with which he
describes the peas, onions, shrimp and spices lead the reader to imagine a meal that will
bring great pleasure. But the poet implies that there is no joy in eating alone, when he
includes his “own lonliness” in the meal—it’s almost as if his loneliness is incorporated into
the dish. The way the line is phrased implies that the shrimp is braised in loneliness as well
as oil and garlic.

II. The descriptions of food in the poem “Eating Together” contrast with the food in “Eating
Alone” by evoking togetherness instead of loneliness. In this poem, unlike in “Eating Alone,”
the speaker’s siblings and mother appear, and the food they eat reflects this family
togetherness. The food that the poet eats in “Eating Alone” is shrimp, which is eating in
small pieces. Whereas in “Eating Together,” the food is a trout, a much larger fish, which
can be divided into a meal for a whole family. The meal in “Eating Together” is a more
colorful meal—in addition to the green onions that are in both meals, the meal that the
family eats together contains ginger, which adds an additional color and a spicy flavor that is
absent in the first meal. Further, while both meals are seafood, the second meal contains
the more substantial word “meat,” which implies more sustenance or nutrition.