Snapping Beans

For Fay Whitt

by Lisa Parker

I snapped beans into the silver bowl 1
that sat on the splintering slats 2
of the porchswing between my grandma and me. 3
I was home for the weekend, 4
from school, from the North, 5
Grandma hummed What A Friend We Have In Jesus 6
as the sun rose, pushing its pink spikes 7
through the slant of cornstalks, 8
through the fly-eyed mesh of the screen. 9
We didnt speak until the sun overcame 10
the feathered tips of the cornfield 11
and Grandma stopped humming. I could feel 12
the soft gray of her stare 13
against the side of my face 14
when she asked, Hows school a-goin? 15
I wanted to tell her about my classes, 16
the revelations by book and lecture 17
as real as any shout of faith, 18
potent as a swig of strychnine. 19
She reached the leather of her hand 20
over the bowl and cupped 21
my quivering chin; 22
the slick smooth of her palm held my face 23
the way she held cherry tomatoes under the spigot, 24
careful not to drop them, 25
and I wanted to tell her 26
about the nights I cried into the familiar 27
heartsick panels of the quilt she made me, 28
wishing myself home on the evening star. 29
I wanted to tell her 30
the evening star was a planet, 31
that my friends wore noserings and wrote poetry 32
about sex, about alcoholism, about Buddha. 33
I wanted to tell her 34
how my stomach burned acidic holes 35
at the thought of speaking in class, 36
speaking in an accent, speaking out of turn, 37
how I was tearing, splitting myself apart 38
with the slow-simmering guilt of being happy 39
despite it all. 40
I said, Schools fine. 41
We snapped beans into the silver bowl between us 42
and when a hickory leaf, still summer green, 43
skidded onto the porchfront, 44
Grandma said, 45
Its funny how things blow loose like that. 46
Write one chunky paragraph per poem justifying why the poem reflects the themes in your
primary texts. (Consider that a mini-thesis statement, since you will consider this part of the assignment a
mini comparison/contrast essay). Then, use direct quotation from both sources to justify your choices. Do
this for each poem. (You will reference this for the second part of your poetry essays).
In Snapping Beans by Lisa Parker, the narrator that tells the story from a first person perspective
sits with her grandmother in uncomfortable silence as they snap beans next to each other. The
grandmother within the poem represents the past the narrator was predisposed to in childhood; the
grandmother raised the narrator from a certain standpoint, which the narrator did not have the ability to
choose; just as a child is predisposed with specific genetics, so too are they predisposed to the culture of
their parents from childhood. As the poem continues, the narrator thinks about all of the experiences she
wants to tell her grandmother, both good and bad, but in the end can never bring herself to mention
anything. The narrator is conflicted between abiding by the culture she was predisposed to as a child, the
one her grandmother favors, and the new culture she wants to be a part of, the one that she chooses to
experience in school. The culture set by her grandmother is evident in the girls thoughts through specific
diction referencing faith, strychnine, and revelations, indicating that her grandmother has
predisposed the girl to a very religions and strict culture. However, the girl has discovered a new culture
she wants to belong in, one revealed through diction referring to nose rings, sex, Buddha, and
alcoholism. The girls conflict is evidenced through her thoughts of being happy despite feeling the
pain of being in a new culture: she felt how I was tearing, splitting myself apart with the slow-simmering
guilt of being happy despite it all. This influence of culture and conflict in maintaining the boundary
between both cultures connects to the same idea within Ulysses, where both Dedalus and Blooms
thoughts are influenced by the specific culture they have been brought up with and both are struggling to
balance two different cultures as well. Dedalus is struggling to balance religion and art, attempting to
break away from the Catholic religion in pursuit of an art career, and Bloom is struggling to balance the
Jewish and Irish cultures, wanting to move away from his Jewish heritage and be assimilated into his Irish
surroundings.
THESIS/JUSTIFICATION:
In both Snapping Beans by Lisa Parker and Ulysses by James Joyce, the thoughts of the characters reveal
the influences of past environment on culture through specific diction and syntax and through repetition
reveal the conflict in balancing two separate cultures and attempting to create a unique identity from both.

ORGANIZATIONAL CHARTS:
Poem Quotations with Line Numbers Text Quotations with Page Numbers
Comparison/
Contrast #1
The narrator experienced the influence of
her grandmothers religious background
as revealed by specific diction choices
pertaining to religious words.

What A Friend We Have In Jesus
(Parker 6), revelations (Parker 17),
faith (Parker 18), strychnine (Parker
19).
Dedalus thoughts are permeated with
allusions to Catholic words or phrases,
indicating the influence of his familys
religious background on his thoughts from his
childhood.

Her hoarse loud breath rattling in horror,
while all prayed on their knees. Her eyes on
me to strike me down. Liliata rutilantium te
confessorum turma circumdet: iubilantium te
virginum chorus excipiat. Ghoul! Chewer of
corpses! No mother. Let me be and let me
live (Ulysses 10)

Why should I bring it down? So I carried
the boat of incense then at Clongowes. I am
another now and yet the same. A servant too.
A server of a servant (Ulysses 11)

She bows her old head to a voice that speaks
to her loudly, her bonesetter, her
medicineman; me she slights. To the voice
that will shrive and oil for the grave all there
is of her but her womans unclean loins, of
mans flesh made not in Gods likeness, the
serpents prey (Ulysses 14)

Blooms thoughts contain much scientific
jargon and are short and choppy, indicating
the influence of his Jewish culture that placed
an importance on education.

Where was the chap I saw in that picture
somewhere? Ah, in the dead sea, floating on
his back, reading a book with a parasol open.
Couldnt sink if you tried: so thick with salt.
Because the weight of the water, non, the
weight of the body in the water is equal to the
weight of the. Or is it the volume is equal of
the weight? Its a law something like that
What is weight really when you say the
weight? Thirtytwo feet per second, per
second. Law of falling bodies: per second, per
second. They all fall to the ground. The earth.
Its the force of gravity of the earth is the
weight. (Ulysses 72)

He listened to her licking lap. Ham and eggs,
no. No good eggs with this drouth. Want pure
fresh water. Thursday: not a good day either
for a mutton kidney at Buckleys. Fried with
butter, a shake of pepper. Bettter a pork
kidney at Dlugraczs. While the kettle is
boiling. She lapped slower, then licking the
saucer clean. Why are their tongues to rough?
To lap better, all porous holes. Nothing she
can eat? He glanced round him. No. (Ulysses
56).
Comparison/
Contrast #2
The narrator feels conflicted between
moving away from the culture her
grandmother predisposed to her and
assimilating into the new one she has
discovered at school. This is revealed
through the repetition of want and the
diction of feeling guilty for nearly
abandoning the culture she was raised
with.

I wanted (Parker 16, 26, 30, 34), I
was tearing, splitting myself apart with
the slow-simmering guilt of being happy
despite it all (Parker 38-40)
Dedalus feels conflicted between abandoning
the culture his family, and in particular his
mother predisposed him to. The repetition of
agenbite of inwit, as well as the reoccurring
image of his mothers ghost indicates the guilt
and conflict he feels over attempting to pick
one culture over another.

Pain, that was not yet the pain of love, fretted
his heart. Silently, in a dream she had come to
him after her death, her wasted body within its
loose brown graveclothes giving off an odour
of wax and rosewood, her breath, that had
bent upon him, mute, reproachful, a faint
odour of wetted ashes. (Ulysses 5)

In a dream, silently, she had come to him, her
wasted body within its loose graveclothes
giving off an odour of wax and rosewood, her
breath bent over him with mute secret words,
a faint odour of wetted ashes (Ulysses 8).

Speaking to me. They wash and tub and
scrub. Agenbite of inwit. Conscience. Yet
heres a spot (Ulysses 16)

His hands plunged and rummaged in his
trunk while he called for a clean handkerchief.
Agenbite of inwit. God, well simply have to
dress the character (Ulysses 17).

Evidence Meaning
Linguistic What A Friend We Have In Jesus
(Parker 6)
revelations (Parker 17)
faith (Parker 18)
strychnine (Parker 19)

evening star was a planet (Parker
31)
my friends wore noserings and wrote
poetry about sex, about alcoholism, about
Buddha (Parker 32-33)
The grandmother in the narrators life has a
religious predisposition to her thinking, and
that has influenced the thoughts of the
narrator, who referred to the new things she
learned in school first in reference to her
grandmothers language.
The diction pertaining to religion reveals to
the reader the cultural predisposition of the
grandmother.
The diction pertaining to science, other
religions and scandalous topics reveal to
the reader the new cultural predisposition
of the granddaughter, and how it is
completely different from what her
grandmother believes in.
Semantic I wanted to tell her how my stomach
burned acidic holes at the thought of
speaking in class, speaking in an accent,
speaking out of turn, how I was tearing,
splitting myself apart with the slow-
simmering guilt of being happy
despite it all.
I said, Schools fine. (Parker 34-41)

I snapped beans into the silver bowl
that sat on the splintering slats
of the porchswing between my grandma
and me. (Parker 1-3)
The change in diction from beginning to
the end reveals a change in tone within the
narrator. At first the narrator feels peaceful
just being with her grandmother, as
evidenced by the neutral diction as she is
describing the actions occurring between
her grandmother and her. Then, the diction
changes to pain as school is mentioned,
indicating that the granddaughter only feels
guilt when she is forced to compare the two
cultures.
Structural I wanted to tell her how my stomach
burned acidic holes at the thought of
speaking in class, speaking in an accent,
speaking out of turn, how I was tearing,
splitting myself apart with the slow-
simmering guilt of being happy
despite it all.
I said, Schools fine. (Parker 34-41)
The change in syntax from complex to
simple indicates the volumes of
information that the granddaughter wants
to speak to the grandmother about but
cannot.



Cultural What A Friend We Have In Jesus
(Parker 6)
revelations (Parker 17)
faith (Parker 18)
strychnine (Parker 19)

evening star was a planet (Parker
31)
my friends wore noserings and wrote
poetry about sex, about alcoholism, about
Buddha (Parker 32-33)
The difference in diction between religious
phrases and scientific words indicates that
there is a conflict within the narrator
between following the faith that her
grandmother had established for her in her
childhood and following the teachings that
the school is giving her. This conflict
echoes throughout many forms of
literature, as in life an individual is often
forced to choose between faith and
knowledge.