Analyzing Rhetorical Techniques Larisa Lai’s “Salt Fish Girl”

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Analyzing Rhetorical Techniques Larisa Lai’s “Salt Fish Girl”
THESIS STATEMENT: “Larissa Lai’s “Salt Fish Girl” seems to be a parable on the thematic connection between a woman and water. Accordingly, Lai uses fluidity as a prime metaphor of a feminine nature that persists by changing into different forms over time and at different places, amidst increasingly suppressive forces. This fluidity is expressed through constant reference to the smooth and winding movement of water in a river, the slithering action of tailed fish-like beings including the narrator when in water or mud, and the seasons or activities that progressively follow each other in quick succession. Although many instances arise where it seems femininity and the continuity of life is about to be halted, there is always a way out that ensures life goes on.
At the beginning of the narrative, Lai emphasizes on depressive loneliness as the prevailing situation that the narrator has to contend with, as she exists in a desolate and unformed world. In this regard, the narrator illustrates her solitude by saying, “I was lonely in a way even the most shunned of you have never known loneliness” (Lai 141). Moreover, the narrator is portrayed as the first being to exist and thus capable of forming other beings in an unshaped world, “The materials of life still lay dormant, not yet understanding their profound relationship to one another.” (Lai 141). Amidst the somber mood that clouds the first few sentences, a glimmer of hope is presented as Lai announces the existence of a river, and water rushing in to fill a gap. Then the gender of the narrator is revealed to be female, with a description of her form from head to toe, “Look, I have a woman’s eyes, a woman’s rope of smooth black hair extending past my waist, a woman’s torso. Your gaze slides over my breasts and belly, the softest skin, warm and quivering. And below? Forget modesty…” (Lai 141).
It is no coincidence that the flow of the river as a source of hope to an otherwise desolate and lonely aura is linked to the introduction of a woman as the narrator, who is also in a position to create other beings using the materials at her disposal. Accordingly, femininity is presented as the key to unlock barrenness and offer a seamless start to life where there’s none. Further, the description of the woman’s form, including her reproductive organs creates a picture of a being that is capable of reproducing. Later in the text, the procreative gift of femininity is unleashed when the narrator enables t...