Noble American

Journal No. 21

English 48B

Dr. Scott Lankford

Author I Chose: Sui Sin Far

From "Mrs. Spring Fragrance"

I. "Is there not a beautiful American poem written by a noble American named Tennyson, which says: 'Tis better to have loved and lost,/ Than never to have loved at all?"

II. Sui Sin Far shows Mrs. Spring Fragrance speaking with a young girl from nextdoor about love.

III. Mrs. Spring Fragrance is speaking to the young Laura about what it really means to feel true love. In relaying this information to Laura, she is hoping to help Laura "get over" Kai Tzu. Ironically, Far is mocking Mrs. Spring Fragrance's own knowledge about love when she refers several times to Alfred Tennyson as being an American poet. Tennyson, in fact, is a British writer. Far is saying to the reader, "How can someone really know about a poem's meaning when you don't know the poet himself?" Although it is true that Mrs. Spring Fragrance is not as knowedgeable about Tennyson's origins, this does not take away her own experiences in loving someone and being loved back. Perhaps she is actually referring to the loss of her own two children, whom she only knew for less than a month. She seems to be reflecting that to have been able to love them and then lost them was far greater a privelage than never to have known them at all. While she certainly is good at mis-remembering important information about an author, she does know what she's talking about when it comes to love and loss.