‘Ever since my mom died, I cry in H Mart’ | Analysis

Indledning
We live in a society where there are a lot of differences whether it is by the way you dress, talk, or even eat.

Being a child of immigrants can sometimes be complicated due to the intense racial, and cultural conflict.

This can be seen in Michelle Zauner’s article “Ever since my mom died, I cry in H Mart” and Jenn Im’s video “Growing Up Korean American. My Struggles.”

Michelle Zauner makes use of pathos to engage with the readers. She does not hide what she is feeling and does her best to describe the emotions she gets when she is at H Mart.

This can be seen in the article when Zauner says: “If I’m being honest, there’s a lot of anger. I’m angry at this old Korean woman I don’t know, that she gets to live and my mother does not like somehow this stranger’s survival is at all related to my loss.

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Uddrag
Besides pathos, Zauner also makes use of ethos, when she points her identity as someone with a “Caucasian father and a Korean mother (…)”

This makes her trustworthy because it explains how she felt like she has lost a part of her identity. After all, her mom was her “access point for our Korean heritage.”

She felt connected with her Korean heritage through the traditional food her mom used to make and her being gone is like a part of her being torn apart.

Zauner being mixed race indicates that she understands how people with different backgrounds feel like in a foreign country, especially those who struggle to stay connected with their cultures.

Her personal experience strengthens her credibility. Zauner also makes use of figurative language, by saying “In moments like this, H Mart is the bridge that guides me away(…)” It seems like H Mart is the bridge that connects Zauner to her Korean side.

Furthermore, Zauner makes use of several rhetorical questions and those questions give the reader an idea to understand the state Zauner is in.

An example of this can be seen, when Zauner expresses her grief and anger seeing an elderly Korean woman.

Another use of rhetorical questions can be seen when Zauner says: “I wonder how many people at H Mart miss their families.

How many are thinking of them as they bring their trays back from the different stalls. Whether they’re eating to feel connected, to celebrate these people through food.

Which ones weren’t able to fly back home this year, or for the past ten years? Which ones are like me, missing the people who are gone from their lives forever?”7

This quote shows that Zauner knows that she is not the only person, who feels distanced from her Korean heritage and is looking for a way to reconnect.

Zauner describes H Mart as “(…)a beautiful, holy place. A cafeteria full of people from all over the world who have been displaced in a foreign country, each with a different history.” 8 For Zauner, H Mart is like a home.

It is a place where her soul finds comfort and peace. Her mentioning the variety of people who visit H Mart shows the reader that Zauner is not the only person who is seeking to reconnect with her culture.