Analysis Of Salt Fish Girl By Larissa Lai

A novel by Larissa Lai, published in 2002, Salt Fish Girl melds elements of Chinese myth and culture with science fiction to make commentary on current issues such as gender and sexuality, biotechnology, and the dangers of capitalism. Born in the United States of Chinese descent, Lai was raised in Canada, and graduated from a Canadian university with her PhD in Sociology. She is currently a writer, poet, and professor of literature at the University of British Columbia (“Larissa Lai”). Lai’s background in sociology enables her to write candidly about issues such as feminism and trauma, and she delivers her novel with the emotional language of a poet. In the portions of the book in which Nüwa, a goddess in ancient Chinese mythology, is the central character, the culture of Lai’s ancestors comes to life within the pages. …show more content…
Salt Fish Girl follows the life of Nüwa, a mermaid-like goddess, who forsakes her immortality to live among the humans that she originally crafted out of clay on the banks of the Yellow River. However, this is not without consequences: Nüwa is fated to experience extreme pain whenever she uses her newly bifurcated legs. In her first rebirth, Nüwa meets and falls in love with a possible reincarnation of Fuxi (who is closely tied to Nüwa in Chinese mythology) in the form of a girl who sells salt fish at her local market. Nüwa experiences poverty and patriarchal influences that threaten her life with the Salt-Fish Girl. As they are reincarnated from starving beggar and enslaved factory worker in pre-revolutionary China, to Miranda and Evie living in a post-apocalyptic Pacific Northwest, Nüwa and Fuxi struggle to remain together and to restore order to a world that is increasingly