"Scar"- An-mei Hsu--> Sam Levy

Thanks to everyone for participating in my literary seminar! =] The answers to my inquiry questions were very insightful, and they helped to make me understand not only the different views of different readers, but also some new ideas of symbolism throughout the chapter.

Here are my two questions, and the answers I recieved during the seminar:

1. In the chapter why does An-mei’s mother sacrifice her own skin for Popo, An-mei’s dying grandmother? What do you think this symbolizes?
As a class, we agreed on a few main ideas for this question. First, we believed that An-mei's mother sacrifices her skin for Popo just purely because it was an ancient Chinese tradition. As well, even though An-mei's mother is seen as a "ghost" to Popo (An-mei's grandmother), An-mei's mother realizes that by not sacrificing her own skin, she would be even more shunned from the family. Some people in the discussion believed that An-mei's mother still loved and cared for Popo, even though she left. Other people thought that the mother did it more for An-mei, to show that she still cared.
Her physical sacrifice of her own flesh symbolizes how generous her sacrifice was for her mother. If one were to try to expunge one's mother from oneself, one might as well cut off one's flesh. To understand one's mother, one must take the biggest risk of all--looking deep within. The situation also questions what sacrifice is really about. An-mei's mother sacrifices her very flesh, but her sacrifice can revive neither Popo nor their mother-daughter relationship.

2. Do you believe that the sacrifice was for Popo or for An-mei’s mother’s own benefit? Explain.
As a class, we seemed to be torn over this question. About half of the class believed that the sacrafice was purley for Popo. An-mei's mother wanted to show that she loved her mother, and that she would accomplish any thing in her power to save Popo, whether Popo cared or not. Perhaps it was An-mei's mother's way of apoligizing to Popo for her wrong actions from the past.
The other half of the class believed that the sacrifice was actually just for An-mei's mother's own benefit. No matter how deeply An-mei’s mother scared her own arm though, she not can heal An-mei's physical scar or her emotional scars. Perhaps the sacrifice is more for the person who sacrifices (in this case, An-mei's mother) than she for whom it is made (Popo and An-mei), since it allows her to resolve her own guilt over two acts she cannot take back: disgracing her mother and abandoning her daughter.

At the end of the discussion, Ms. Wrede, as well as a few other students, noticed a form of symbolism that I had missed when reading the chapter. An-mei is burned by the soup at the beginning of the chapter when her mother is leaving (=pain). At the end of the chapter An-mei's mother puts her flesh into the soup to try to heal Popo (=healing). Perhaps the soup is a symbol of An-mei and her mother's relationship. The soup burns and the soup cleanses.

*What are your opinions on the soup? What do you think about its symbolism?