DEPARTURE

LOOKING FOR THE DENOTATIVE AND CONNOTATIVE MEANINGS IN “DEPARTURE” POEM

Departure

by Genny Lim

Please tell me you are not afraid

While I cover your shoulder, big sister

I’ll pretend it’s morning and

The fog has lifted

Please open your eyes

Let me hear you yawn like a child

Let me see your smile

Talk about the old days

In your Chinatown accent

If there is an odor of stale incense

Withered roses with antiseptic spray

You can criticize my house-cleaning

I won’t mind

If you scold

The way you did when I borrowed

Your white satin cheongsam without asking

And spilled sweet and sour sauce on it

Fifteen years ago

I won’t avoid your eyes

Staring out of their sockets like glass

When I ask how you are

I won’t hear you choking

When I rise to leave you

I won’t notice your hands trembling

Reaching for me

From your bed

Across the TV tray

Fumbling with cotton gauze, syringe

3 cc’s of morphine

Shot thru your brain

I won’t flinch

I won’t cry

The poem has two meanings. They are denotative meaning and connotative meaning.

·        Denotative meanings :

She asked her older sister not to be afraid of something when she hugged her. She acted like a night which changed into a morning. She wanted to see her open her eyes and smile, hear her yawning,and talked about their past memories with Chinatown accent. If it smelt an aroma of incense and withered roses with antiseptic spray, her sister could blame her about the way she cleaned their house. It was no problem for her if her sister reprimanded her when she borrowed her clothes without asking and spilled sweet and sour sauce on it fifteen years ago. She wanted to see her eyes clearly. When she asked her condition, she didn’t want to hear her choking. When she wanted to leave her sister, she didn’t want to see her sister’s hand trembling to reach her from the bed and fumbling the syringe of 3 cc’s morphine that affected in her sister’s mind. Then she didn’t want to flinch and cry for her sister’s death.

·        Connotative meanings :

From the title, “Departure” means that it likes a way to go to the new world. In the words “I’ll pretend it’s morning and the fog has lifted”mean that the writer acts as a strong person so she is able to solve her sad feeling. Then the words “Talk about the old days in your Chinatown accent” mean that the writer’s story happened in a long time which made a sweet memory between them. “If there is an odor of stale incense, withered roses with antiseptic spray” means that it is a symbol of someone’s death and it makes the people around being condolence. “Fifteen years ago” this sentence, the writer emphasizes that the time has many unforgettable memories with her older sister. “I won’t avoid your eyes staring out their sockets like glass” means that the brightening and sparkling eyes of her sister made the writer missed to see her beautiful eyes again. “I won’t hear you choking” means that the writer doesn’t want to see her sister being sick because of something she had done. From the sentence “Fumbling the cotton gauze, syringe, 3 cc’s of morphine, shot thru your brain” means that the sister has been acute addicted of the morphine so that is the cause of the sister’s death. “I won’t flinch, I won’t cry”, it means that the writer doesn’t regret about her sister’s death so she is sincere to accept this condition

From the poem, we know the point of all the paragraphs. It tells us that the writer’s emotion about her death sister. She is very care to her; it is proved by the words “I don’t mind if you scold” until “fifteen years ago”, so the writer is still remember not only the bad memories but also the sweet memories that makes her become a strong person.

                                                                                            Laily Nur Iffah Sari