By Adrienne Su
https://annasuki.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/sus-female-infanticide/ So we are taking a short departure from the mysterious, dark world of Cruz, and plunging into another world, equally disturbing and dark, that is, the world of Adrienne Su. Although still dark, this poem is a different type of dark, not one that can be construed meaning, but one that has a definite meaning that applies and brings light to the world today. Please be prepared. I’m going to start with the title because it is an immediate attention grabber. Infanticide is the intentional killing of infants and with the word female there, we are talking about baby girls here. Female infanticide is a depressing and creepy concept in of itself, but the rest of the title is more so. “A Guide for Mothers” suggests that this poem is a how-to, an instruction manual for how to kill off your baby girls. Let’s see how this develops further. The first line, “in order of expediency.” This suggests a list, a list that goes from top to bottom an order of what you should try, the most urgent first. “Try this method first before moving on” a message that screams out almost like an advertisement. The first line relates the remaining structure of the poem, it is almost like an outline, with Roman numerals detailing each item of the list. Instead of detailing each list item, line by line, I grouped them into similar parts or actions, or at least, what I viewed as similar. Item #1 is pre-birth of the child. First get an “ultrasound” to determine the gender of the child. We wouldn’t want to kill off a precious baby boy, now would we? After determining that the child is indeed a girl, the next item on the agenda is get an abortion. Stop the child before it’s even born, to save time, money, and resources. It is urgent that you cut off the child at its earliest stage, because a born child is so much more difficult to get rid of than a fetus. Items #2-4. Now that the child is born, what are you going to do with it? “Drowning; asphyxiation,” both quiet, relatively clean methods of disposing of a child. Quick and simple as well, they require no specialized equipment. “Hilltop abandonment,” like literally just leave the child, let it get taken in by the odd kind stranger or eaten by wolves. Doesn’t matter because the girl is no longer your problem. “Automobile accident,” stage something, an accident absolves you of responsibilities because well, it was an accident. No responsibility, no girl burden, everything is good. All of these items take place after the child is born, but they all require effort of the parent. Something has to happen in order for these list items to take place. Items #5-6. Now, if everything previously listed fails, literally give up. “Failure to immunize,” “ill nutrition,” “lack of activity,” and “inattention,” all come about from ignoring the child. Just ignore the child until it dies. Don’t vaccinate it, so it contracts some deadly disease. Don’t feed it, so it dies. It’s plain and simple, act as if that unwanted child was just not there. The only problem I foresee with these list items and a possible explanation of why something so simple would be further down on the list is that these actions (or inactions) are public. Someone is bound to notice that this child is starving, particularly if there are siblings in the household. Killing off girls is a well-known, but secret thing. The rest of the poem brings us back to effort being put back into the killing again. There is the idea of abandonment again, but this time to relatives, however unknown they may be. You could flat out leave the kid behind on a vacation. “Oops, it was just a mistake.” There’s that idea of accidental again. The paradox of the accepted notion of killing off girl children, but the clandestine way in which it must be carried out. In Item IX, the underlying idea of boys are more valuable than girls is brought to the forefront. This idea was understood throughout the poem, but not expressed until now. With a son, comes fortune and security, so now you can just put that useless girl up for adoption, no one will miss her. Item X is interesting and receives a full two lines instead of the customary one. Pull of this massive scandal and then leave it to her to kill herself (smart) or simply just vanish, grabbing that idea once more of exploring ways that absolve the parent of responsibility. Item XI raises the brother question again and illustrates the idea of girls being subservient to boys by suggesting you just use her as a servant to the all revered boy, but if that fails, marry her off. Then she can be a servant to her husband. Yay! Exciting! Note that it is the parent’s convenience, not the child’s, suggesting a society where marriages are not for love, but for gain. Item XII is what you should do if all else preceding this fails. Now that you’re stuck with this girl, keep her single. The talk of “psychological torture” implies that you will make this girl feel unattractive and unwanted, so that no one will want her, then use her for your own gain, most likely as a servant to care for you in your old age. This poem is depressing, it’s explicit, and it’s definitely cryptic. There is not much description, but not much is needed. Images appear in my brain, sad one. As the poem progresses, it shows the age in the girl. The girl gets older and older and to me the list items become sadder and sadder. Yes, the most murderous ones are at the top of the list, but they talk of when the girl is young, and not been able to have experiences in this world. She doesn’t know that she isn’t wanted. As she grows older, the methods turn to abandonment and disguise. The girl has to face the reality that she isn’t wanted and she has no control over what happens to her, she’ll either unwillingly become the servant of her own brother, an unwanted husband who will practically be a stranger, or her own parents. All of the list items yield sad fates, but the later ones are made sadder by understanding. I immediately thought about China, where female infanticide was a common practice until the early 2000s. It turns out that many countries participate in female infanticide because boy are much more useful to have around. While current female infanticide is not as drastic as it was expressed in this poem, many mothers, especially in rapid growth and densely populated areas, will abort their female children, with preference for males. It’s sad to think that in this “modern” day and age, such gender imbalance still occurs. Su captured that harsh world, the one we don’t like to think about and brought it to the bright light of day, where we can take action and do something about it. Nothing will change if nobody cares.
3 Comments
Eng
4/1/2017 08:45:05 am
Very disturbing poem. Which do you find most troubling? Do you think the "accidental" nature is an attempt to remove blame and guilt?
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Julianna
4/5/2017 06:13:19 am
Agreed, very disturbing. I appreciate that you mentioned that the subject applies to today because it is a real issue in some places of the world. Very detailed and great analyzation. You did a good job with such a dark poem.
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Alecia G.
4/5/2017 10:00:02 am
Hey, Brianna!
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