Understanding Colonization's Impact On 'Simple Recipes'

The Rice Pot of Identity: Understanding Colonization’s Impact on ‘Simple Recipes’ By Madeline Thein.

Colonization does not happen overnight; it is a gradual process that is tearing families apart. Simple Recipes by Madeline Thein is a fictional short story written in first-person retrospective from the perspective of Madeline, a second-generation Malaysian-Canadian immigrant. The narrative unravels as Madeline and her family struggle to adapt to the complexities of family dynamics, cultural heritage, and identity. With cultural immersion as the structural backbone of assimilation, Madeline's father creates a positive association with his roots through the magic of cooking rice for his children. Yet over time, as societal standards create internal

Gradually, as Madeline matures, she sees things for how they are. In the falling action of the plot, after the altercation between father and son, Madeline has a chance to reflect. In this reflection, she predicts that this violence will "turn all my love to shame and grief." 9. The syllable of the syllable. Processing the reasons for the tension and strained atmosphere leaves Madeline frozen. She sees now the effects of the colonization inflicted on her family, how it was hard on everyone yet drove each individual to different extremes. Each moment of cultural denial and grief built up to create a moment of intense emotion, shattering what little familial bonds were hiding under the protection of this facade. After this pivotal moment, everything becomes clear to Madeline, and as time passes, her understanding of her early life, though filled with happy memories, is surpassed by the darkness that slowly encapsulates her family. Later in life, during the resolution of the plot, Madeline moves out and reflects on the differences between her childhood home and her apartment. She explains how she remembers that the ceilings were yellow, covered in grease, and the air was heavy, but she "loved the weight of it” (4). In direct juxtaposition with what she loved, her apartment is always scrubbed clean of grease, with the windows left open whenever food is

Despite being removed from their homeland's culture, Madeline's parents strive to instill a consistent cultural identity in their children, as depicted through the ritual of rice-making passed down from her father. As tensions escalate, a parallel can be drawn from this narrative to that of the real-life gradual process of colonization. Madeline's brother's resistance to his heritage leads to intense familial conflicts, culminating in a violent altercation that reflects the broader struggle of reconciling cultural identity with societal pressures. Eventually, Madeline's reflection of the trauma inflicted by cultural displacement and her distancing from all that reminds her of it, like her apartment's physical appearance, symbolizes the understated impact of colonization on personal identity and future. The process of colonization is gradual, and author Madeline Thein does an amazing job of illustrating that in her allegorical characterization of the real-life immigrant experience. Providing a platform for today's immigrants to relate and have their stories understood in a way more emotionally involved and candid than any news channel or headline could ever