Yee+Bow

"Yee Bow"

Photo by Trevor Read by Trevor media type="custom" key="11173054"

 Yee Bow’s culture was his main priority in life. “ Now I shall never sleep with my ancestors in Pekin, / and no children shall worship at my grave” (lines 10-11). This quote shows the pain and agony he suffered from not being able to follow his culture. He gave up his original culture to take on Christianity. Even then Yee Bow still followed his culture’s rules.  Defiance is a strong characteristic shown by Yee Bow. “They got me into Sunday-school / in Spoon River / and tried to get me to drop Confucius for Jesus” (lines 1-3). The interpretation of this poem is how reluctant he was. He did not agree with Christianity and did not like the idea of Sunday school. He was defiant to both ideas, but he ended up doing both.  Yeebow’s optimism is a great attribute. His optimism probably saved him from a earlier death. “ I could have been no worse off / if I had tried to get them to drop Jesus for Confucius” (lines 4-5). This shows how he thought the outcomes through and saw that converting was his best option. If he would have tried to convert them he would have most likely been killed earlier. His optimism kept him alive longer.

Work Cited Masters, Edgar Lee. "Yee Bow." __The Spoon River Anthology.__ New York, New York: Macmillan, 1946.101.