Post 9 - Onion

In class on Friday, we read a poem entitled “The Traveling Onion” by Naomi Shihab Nye. When I first read the poem to myself, I interpreted the literal meaning or theme of the poem which was simply about an onion. The opening lines were from Better Living Cookbook that talked about the onions origin and its traveling journey. As I read on, I basically got a bit on the texture of an onion, its appearance, and how its contribution to a meal or dish is forgotten. But, that is basically it.

Reading it a second time, the experiment with the onion itself, and reading it a third time each revealed something new. This helped illustrate what Professor Corrigan taught about the importance of reading literature more than once because each time, there is an opportunity to see something you did not realize the time before that if you allow challenge yourself to dig deeper! 

The experiment of cutting the onion helped me visualize the “crackly paper peeling”, the “pearly layers”, and the “onion falling apart on the chopping block”. The potent smell reminded you of how powerful it is, which we experienced the second we walked in the door. We even saw the tears from Professor Corrigan. 

By the end of the third reading, the onion exemplified a person. Many people feel insignificant, unseen, unimportant, and forgotten just like the onion. Both are often not appreciated for their true value.  An onion is like a person because everyone has a history that can be revealed once you peel back the layers. In order to get to know someone, you have to go past the surface and let them “fall apart.” Falling apart is letting someone in to reveal their inner thoughts, feelings, and journey.

After I my third interpretation of story, I related it back to the book of Redeeming Love.  I  will try my best to compare Redeeming Love and The Traveling Onion without giving away major details for those who have not read it yet. Sara was a prostitute against her own will from the time she was eight years old. The oppression of abandonment, her sense of worthlessness, the words spoken over her, the abuse, the lies, and her lack of no one to show her what real love was, were all factors of why she was the way she was. However, people automatically judged her for who she was without taking the time “peel back” the layers and take the time to see what was past that “crackly, peeling” surface. Did anyone every stop to wonder about her journey or her history? Or had they simply forgot or overlooked what could be behind the surface. 

"Commenting on texture of meat or herbal aroma but never on the translucence of onion,now limp, now divided,
or its traditionally honorable career: For the sake of others,
disappear” spoke something special to me. As a culinary student last year, I remember that an onion’s role is so important to a dish because it contributes so much flavor and aroma. Without the onion, the meat would not be so highly praised for its taste. Being translucent can be interpreted as being able to see past it. The meat receives all the glory in honor of the onion’s “honor” and selflessness, even receiving the credit for the onion’s aroma. The onion become translucent, overlooked, “broken”, and divided all for the sake of the something else. 

I think that I could blog about this poem in ten different ways. This was a perfect example of how poems do not have a specific "code to crack." As How To Read a Poem by Joseph Coulsona nd Peter Temes says, "playing or listening to a song for the hundredth time- if its  a great song- will yield new interpretation and discovery. So it is with great poetry."