"The Joy of Cooking" by Elaine Magarrell

In her poem “The Joy of Cooking,” Elaine Magarrell masterfully embodies the complicated relationship between a brother and sister through the employment of a very sarcastic tone and the manipulation of words which very closely resembles metonymy. While the fact that the brother did not literally cut out his sister’s tongue and convert it into a tasty dish, nor did the sister transform her brother’s heart into a meal, Magarrell’s vivid descriptions certainly arrested my attention throughout the duration of the poem. In analyzing the author’s very unique choice in what method to implement in order to convey a brother and sister’s relentless bickering, I found that the Magarrell’s detailed description of the sister’s tongue and brother’s heart to be very similar to metonymy. Although Magarrell never fully refers to the sister as though she were a tongue nor the brother as though he were a heart, she does conduct all of her characterization of the two siblings through their representative body parts; therefore, the author is utilizing a technique very similar to metonymy by revealing very critical aspects of each character through something very closely associated with them—their body parts themselves. Magarrell actually proves that this is a very effective form of representation. Although the actions committed by the brother and sister agitate one another so severely are never described, the reader can form a general understanding of the aspects of each sibling which annoy the other simply through this very unique representation by body parts. For example, because the brother wishes to cut out his sister’s tongue, the inference can be made that the sister must have gravely offended or hurt the brother by means of something which she said. After all, cutting out one’s tongue and preparing it in a dish is not the first form of retaliation that I would conjure up for a good-humored prank that my sister pulled on me! Furthermore, the fact that the sister explains in great detail how she would prepare her brother’s heart indicates that she finds his heart to be lacking such honorable qualities as compassion or perhaps even forgiveness. By commenting that his heart “needs an apple-onion stuffing to make it interesting at all” (Magarrell) and also adding that “Although beef heart serves six my brother’s heart barely feeds two (Magarrell), the sister points to the fact that she finds her brother’s heart to be small and empty. For good measure, the sister finds it necessary to add at the very end that she might potentially serve his heart in sour sauce, adding the last offensive remark hinting that her brother is excessively bitter. Therefore, in this manner, Magarrell is able to accomplish a great deal of characterization without even directly stating anything about the characters’ appearances, personalities, actions, words, relationships, etc.; rather, she is able to accomplish all of her characterization solely through her descriptions of their maimed body parts being transformed into food.

                Lastly, Magarrell’s employment of an incredibly sarcastic (and humorous) tone contributes greatly to the essence of the poem and points to the central theme. While the two siblings are clearly very agitated with another and obviously possess qualities which are found to be greatly repulsive to one another, the very sarcastic tone with which the author writes seemingly implies that the two siblings do not truly despise one another. Even the title, “The Joy of Cooking” carries a sense of humor and sarcasm in the fact that the two siblings would actually find pleasure in injuring or killing one another for the sake of a meal. The sarcastic tone has a double function of both conveying the siblings’ rivalry and frustration while also making the poem humorous and contributing to its entertaining tone.