Realm of paradise (full version)
The carcass sits astride the motorbike, fastened to the saddle by ropes, its pale pink bulk having ridden pillion in the fine drizzle to its final place of immolation. A faint hint of a smile hovers over its peaceful face, its shut, long-lashed eyes, its creased forehead and endearing snout, an...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.movingworlds.net/volumes/18/postcolonial-cities-southeast-asia/. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/145220 |
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| Institution: | Nanyang Technological University |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | The carcass sits astride the motorbike, fastened
to the saddle by ropes, its pale pink bulk having
ridden pillion in the fine drizzle to its final place
of immolation. A faint hint of a smile hovers over its
peaceful face, its shut, long-lashed eyes, its creased
forehead and endearing snout, and even its flappy ears
giving it somewhat a content, eerily human look. Perhaps
not incongruously, Ted Hughes’s “View of a Pig” comes
to mind. As I try to recall the magnificent ending, the
helmeted driver loosens the lashings around the pig,
and under the supervision of the women he and three
other men grab the trotters and heave the weight on
their shoulders, and march it funereally up the wet
marble steps to the trestle table draped with a Coca Cola
plastic sheet, and ceremoniously lay the cargo down. The
Vietnamese matrons take care of the details, and direct
their men in adjusting the pig till it looks presentable,
dignified, a fitting sacrificial feast for the hungry spirits
of the dead soldiers. |
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