Presumably, rather than comforting his wife, he
left as soon as he discovered that his new baby is
a daughter. The new mother is not surprised that
her husband has gone, as they had already
planned for what was to be done in the event
that the child was a girl. The narrator paints
an ambiguous picture of her husband, who
performs his tasks hastily, as if eager to kill the
baby, but who frowns and pretends that he
values women as little as his culture values
them. As the narrator describes it, the frown
can be understood to be not real; perhaps he is
only pretending to be sad that he must kill his
child. From this perspective, his rushing to com-
plete the deed before either his wife or mother
changes her mind reveals his true nature: He is in
such a hurry to commit murder that his display
of grief is no more than a frown. He cannot even
show sympathy or understanding for the loss his
wife might feel, as his mind is fixated only on the
son that his wife failed to give him. From
another perspective, the fact that he must
pretend not to care indicates that he does what
he does against even his own heart’s wishes.
Nevertheless, there can be little doubt that, what-
ever his emotional state, he performs the horrific
deed that supposedly must be performed.
Infanticide
The author’s choice to write a poem about infan-
ticide calls attention to the issue. The epigraph
tells readers that female infanticide is a very
serious problem in China. As the reader studies
the poem, it becomes clear that the poem is
about the fate that awaits a newborn baby girl.
Lim makes infanticide personal by making the
mother the narrator, such that the mother’s
voice relates the details of the events that follow
the girl’s birth. Although the mother has helped
to plan for this possibility, she is ambivalent
about having to kill her baby. Lim makes the
mother-narrator regretful over the waste of milk
that will not nourish the infant and over the
human life that will be wasted because the
child is not the desired son. Since the reader
sees infanticide from the mother’s point of
view, there is a greater impact on readers, who
are compelled to see the problem in a more
personal way.
Maternity and Motherhood
There are two mothers in Lim’s poem. The new
mother narrates the poem, and so readers see the
events from her point of view. The baby’s body is
snuggled against her mother, who feels the child
move against her, just as the child moved in her
womb only the day before. The mother’s milk
flows, an involuntary acknowledgement of her
role as nourishing mother to this baby girl. The
milk is a reminder that this mother’s role is to
care for her baby; to kill her child is the antithesis
of motherhood. The mother knows in her mind
that she will have to kill her newborn, but her
body remembers the child and longs to feed her.
The mother-in-law is also a mother, one who
once felt her own son kick inside her womb and
who once felt her breast milk flow, as well. Ini-
tially, the narrator describes the mother-in-law
as distant. She stays away from the new mother
and infant, squatting down next to the fire.
When the narrator explains that her husband’s
mother is praying, however, the reader suddenly
sees her in a more sympathetic light. The killing
of this child cannot be easy for her, either. The
two mothers are forced to do what their culture
tells them is their obligation, even though moth-
erhood is about giving life, not taking life. The
ambivalence of both mothers regarding what lies
ahead is clearly established in the story the
narrator tells.
STYLE
Asian American Women’s Poetry
The phrase ‘‘Asian American women’s poetry’’ is a
broad term that refers to many different traditions,
none of which are easily defined. Thus, the term
really refers to a multicultural tradition of women
writing largely about topics that, according to Lim,
have ‘‘too long been forbidden to Asian American
women.’’ In her introduction to the anthologyThe
Forbidden Stitch, Lim describes Asian American
women’s poetry as capable of increasing readers’
awareness of cultural difference. Although Asian
American women poets represent a diverse multi-
cultural background, they also tend to reflect a
distinctly Asian voice, whether speaking of their
countries of origin or of their adopted American
country. Their poetry is often marked by emphases
on culture, kinship, and family relationships. Lim’s
poem reflects such an emphasis on culture and
family dynamics. ‘‘Pantoun for Chinese Women’’
narrates a story that is not usually the subject of
poetry, and it is a story that is not often discussed.
The issue of female infanticide in China is a
Pantoun for Chinese Women