In the first stanza, there is a situation teacher makes a child stand on the corner for not knowing the difference between two words “persimmons” and “precision”. The boy does not know well about two words because his native language is Chinese not English. So his mental ability to distinguish two similar pronounced words “persimmons” and “precision” is not formed yet. But the boy thinks there are some connections between two words. It is revealed in the second stanza. To eat a persimmon, we need precision. At first we have to distinguish whether the persimmon is ripe or not. And when we eat that fruit, we have to know how to peel the persimmon precisely.
The teacher stands for general stubborn types of people. They judge the student in simple way – only the outlook not inner personality. The teacher doesn’t care about the fact the boy is now accustomed to handling English deeply and he doesn’t try to understand. In this aspect, we can know that stanza reveals the cultural barriers caused by language. After reading all of the stanza following, I thought maybe the language suggest the reason, generalized values.. if we can’t make a distinction between tow similar sound words, people treat us fool. Even if the boy can’t tell what is the exact meaning of the two word, he can think about connection between two words in sensitive way using a association.
The narrator takes revenge when teacher bring the unripe persimmons to class. Only the boy knows, does the persimmons is on ripe. He just watched peer’s face get distorted not eating the fruit.
As the boy grows up, good at English, he finds his lover Donna. She speaks English only so he tries to teach her simple Chinese words. It means now he doesn’t have language difficulty or cultural barrier anymore. And also it suggests language is not the barrier for love. In the scene, they talk a little but shared their love with her. And remember to tell her she is as beautiful as the moon.
From the seventh stanza the second part of the poem starts. When his father knows he is losing his eyesight, the boy gives him a persimmon. The reason why I thought the persimmons stand for opposite for language is reveals from now on. His father touches the persimmons. His father, gone blind, still can feel s silk painting of it and can distinguish which is heavy or not, soft or not. So, even he can’t see exact shape of the fruit or color of the fruit, he can recognize persimmons is sweet or not, ripe or not. The feel of the fruit in his palm has the real meaning as the way it is. In its scent and weight and feel, he can feel the real value of the persimmons. He still can see the world in different perspective. His vision goes beyond the limited word or visual images. And this stanza describes the life of father and the deep relationship between the father and the son.
When I read this poem at first, I feel this poem evoke the emotional shaking through a sensational description and the expression about the relationship in family. When I began to think about the poem more deeply, I focused on the contrast between the language and the persimmons which can reach the contrast between the visual world and invisible world, superficial world and real world. The word can deceive people. People can misunderstand the meaning of the word even when the letters are correct but the context is vague. The poet li young lee maybe wanted to tell about the real feelings, the real values which cannot be translated to the words. That might be why I feel some sensational feeling when I read the poem first time. In a language, we can fully convey our inner feelings and thoughts. In the poem, both young narrator and grown up narrator tell us the important of feeling and the expression of emotion, I think.
And at last, I want to confess that I did not surely understand what is the exact meaning whe the boy makes love with his lover Donna. I’m not sure that scene emphasis the important of feeling or not because that was my personal interpret trough the text. The reason I wrote that scene means language is not the barrier for love is just my own opinion.
