"In two years' time, my scar became pale and shiny and I had no memory of my mother. That is the way it is with a wound. The wound begins to close in on itself, to protect what is hurting so much. And once it is closed, you no longer see what is underneath, what started the pain."
The only thing An-Mei has to remind herself of her mother is a terrible scar that reminds her of an even more terrible incident that happened when she was four. I hate scars. They only remind you of something that hurt. There are emotional scars and physical scars that remind us all of horrible incidents we experienced in our lives.
The literary term I chose for this chapter is BATHOS (insincere or overly sentimental quality of writing/speech intended to evoke pity). I feel so much pity for An-Mei. An-Mei's mother was run out of the house by her harsh, scolding mother. An-Mei never knew her father and barely knew her mother. All she has to remind her of her mother is a horrible scar, which only reminds her of the time her mother left and she almost died.
I completely agree with the scar thing. They seem to be like memories we cannot escape. The quote was a great way to connect scars to being emotionally and physically painful.
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