"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" (pg.47). As a small child An-Mei was sent to live with her grandmother because her mother dishonored her family by becoming a concubine for a wealthy man. When An-Wei was four, her mother returned to get her, but An-Mei's grandmother chased her off. During the commotion, a pot of boiling soup fell on An-Wei, seriously burning her and almost killing her. This left An-Wei with a scar on her neck, and she associated this scar with her mother. Over the years, however, she forgot about the pain, just as she forgot about her mother, but when he mother returns again and rubs the scar on her neck she immediatly remembers and loves her mother again.
This chapter reminds me of last year. Last yearvi was in a snowboarding accident and I broke my femur. Now I too have scars on my body, and they remind me of my accident. Just like how An-Wei's scars remind her of her mother and the night of her accident.
A literary device for this chapter would be a symbol. The scar on An-Wei's neck is a symbol for her mother.
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