Catfish in the Bathtub

“Catfish in the Bathtub” Response Questions

1. How does Kingston use the five senses to create descriptive imagery?  Give examples of her

use of sounds, tastes, smells, sights, and feelings.  Which do you believe are the most effective?

·         Kingston applies to the visual, sound, taste, and feeling senses to make the story appear more lively.

·         The sounds she describes include the screeching of owls and “thud” of turtle shells in the boiling pot of water. Tastes include that of a plan that had none, as well as “if it tastes good, it’s bad for you.” “If it tastes bad, it’s good for you.” Kingston is quite distinct with the smell sensory. One of her aunts actually purchased a bag of candy for her to smell while Kingston’s mother was dismembering a skunk. The rubber smell was still obvious through the scent of candy. Sights included are those of the owls during the attack. They were hunched over with yellow eyes. Kingston always had the feeling when going to another Chinese household to always reply that she had eaten.

·         Kingston’s use of sights, smells, and tastes all portray the way she grew up very effectively. They bring her story to life and help to describe how her feelings were with being a Chinese-American.

2. Evaluate the use of dialogue (records of spoken words or conversation) in this essay?  What

effect does it have on your understanding of Kingston’s main point?

·         The use of dialogue represents how mothers tend to encourage their children to eat. Although, her mother’s culture and the one she was in currently were different it did not affect the way she prepared meals. Because the animals that the family could afford were those of royalty in her homeland she assumed that her children would want to eat them as she did.

3. Although other incidents or ideas are described rather briefly, Kingston devotes a full, detailed

paragraph to a description of the monkey feast…why do you think she does this?

·         The monkey feast was a ritual in China. Her mother thought very highly of the occurrence and neglected to include the negative aspects of the situation. Kingston was appalled by the brutality that transpired during the monkey feast.

4. Throughout the essay, Kingston combines very realistic description (the bear’s claw, the turtles

thudding against the pot, the monkey feast) with various similes and metaphors…what figures

of speech (see description notes) does Kingston use in the essay?

·         Kingston says that she could live on plastic. This is not an item usually eaten but because of the types of food that her mother and other Chinese-Americans made she preferred not to eat their ethnically cultural food.

5. “Catfish in the Bathtub” opens with a lengthy catalog of foods that Kingston’s mother

prepared, yet ends with a very brief, simple statement.  Why do you think she does this?  How

effective is this concluding strategy?

·         Kingston lists the different types of food her mother made to emphasis the fact that her mother was unique in her cooking.

·         The simple statement she ends with is very blunt. She did not like the food that her mother or other Chinese-American families made. They did not appeal to her senses and she would rather not eat than to take part in these rituals.

·         This strategy is very effective because it shows the many options that Kingston had but that she preferred not to take part.