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One moment that makes the story moving is when An-Mei's (AM) mother touches her daughter's scar and cries in despair. This scene is moving as it shows AM's mother's love for her. Though she did not know AM too well, she did possess a motherly love for her. Even when the accident could not be attributed back to AM's mother, she still felt sadness from "hurting" her daughter or allowing her to be hurt. AM's mother rubbing her daughter's scar could also be a seen as a symbolism of AM's mother carving into her daughter a pain that will last forever due to her not being there for her. This can be seen as the scar being a wound that can never fully heal, leaving a mark behind as a reminder of the past pain. If AM's mother had been there with her daughter, in reality she might have been able to prevent the accident. If she had been there to give AM her love, AM would not suffer from the "trauma" that lead to the "scarring" of her mind.

Ethan

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Point #1 symbol : cutting flesh to make soup

for popo

- An Mei’s mother willingly sacrifices herself to attempt to save Popo’s life

How is it moving ? : Although Popo may have completely erased her from their family’s minds , An Mei’s mom loves & respect Popo still to the extent of taking away a part of herself to give to Popo . An Mei’s mom is still grateful despite the lack of respect she received ( Why? Maybe because Popo took care of An Mei , showing her care and concern for her daughter -> Feels a sense of gratitude // mother , she will always love and respect )

- This is how An Mei’s mother honored her mother . Even when An Mei’s mother wasn’t regarded as part of the family anymore due to the fact that she left them to become a concubine , she still returned to complete her duty of being Popo’s daughter

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Popo taught An-Mei to never say her mother's name, as she was a "ghost", one who lost all respect from her mother-in-law because of her abandonment of her child after her husband died. However, what i find touching from this story is how both An-Mei and her mother respect each other despite the 'scars' , or rather, the lasting impact each of their mothers left on them respectively. For An-Mei, it was her abandonment by her mother, and for her mother it was how popo degraded her and hated her and yet she still returned to take care of her, even cutting off her own flesh and giving it to her mother, showing that she is stripping away the bad she has done and leaves behind her love for her mother

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what i found moving was the relationship between AM and her mother. AM and her mother were separated. AM was forced to forget about her mother, which is mentally traumatising for a child, especially when her mother was forcefully dragged away from her. this left AM feeling hurt. "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". it is moving because AM still loves her mother even with the little memory she has of her. even though popo and her auntie looked down on her mother, AM still loves her mother nonetheless. "here is now i came to love my mother. how i saw in her my own true nature. what is beneath my skin. inside my bones." "yet i cam to love this mother as well."

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In the last paragraph, Tan portrayed the most important value in Chinese culture. Respect. AM's mother literally and figuratively gave a part of herself up to her mom and showed this unwavering respect and love to a certain extent even to popos last breath. Even when popo dehumanised her, made her look like a nobody who just brought shame to their family. When she cut of a part of her skin, a scar will eventually form, and to AM's mother, it could be a reminder of who her mother was and why she defied her culture and to define who she is now. Maybe her mother didn't know the way AM's mother felt about her but it didn't matter to her because she a part of her still wanted to be that daughter that brings honour to the family. This moment is symbolic in showing the love for each other even when they didn't show it. Thus, it made the moment moving.

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AnMei’s Mother’s filial piety towards her mother makes the story moving. it is moving as although her mother disregarded her, when her mom fell sick, AnMei’s Mother (AMM) still went back to take care of her.
PP says “who is this ghost?”. this suggests that PP does not want to acknowledge her daughter, choosing to leave her “nameless”, someone who did not exist in their lives anymore. Despite this, AMM was still willing to sacrifice herself for PP.
this can be seen from “my mother cut a piece of meat from her arm”, showing that ANM was willing to sacrifice herself for her mother, that she was willing to injure herself, and in essence “take the pain” for her mother. This makes the moment moving as the contrast between the care each character have is so striking, with one willing to suffer for the other, while the other degrades the other’s existence. Thus, it shows the extent of anmei’s mothers’s filial piety towards PP, making this story moving

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Although An Mei was forced to disregard/ forget her mother, she still loves her mother even though it was believed that her mother had abandoned her. An Mei's feelings were vividly portrayed through the use of figurative language such as symbols. The scar that she had under her chin "became pale and shiny and I had no memory of my mother." Hence, the scar was a symbol of the unknown reason why An Mei's mother left her which left her feeling hurt, in which she was forced to "no longer see what's underneath', in other words forbidden to see her mother or even talk to her. Despite the times her mother was not there for her, An Mei still loves her mother and understands that it was not her fault. Even thouher mother being disregarded as 'ghost' by her entire family, she still cried "Ma" when she was hurt. This is moving as it evidently showed the unbreakable love in mother-daughter relationship; An Mei's love for her mother runs in her blood.

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Although An Mei was forced to disregard/ forget her mother, she still loves her mother even though it was believed that her mother had abandoned her. An Mei's feelings were vividly portrayed through the use of figurative language such as symbols. The scar that she had under her chin "became pale and shiny and I had no memory of my mother." Hence, the scar was a symbol of the unknown reason why An Mei's mother left her which left her feeling hurt, in which she was forced to "no longer see what's underneath', in other words forbidden to see her mother or even talk to her. Despite the times her mother was not there for her, An Mei still loves her mother and understands that it was not her fault. Even thouher mother being disregarded as 'ghost' by her entire family, she still cried "Ma" when she was hurt. This is moving as it evidently showed the unbreakable love in mother-daughter relationship; An Mei's love for her mother runs in her blood.

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Second question: (Close reading) Refer to the last paragraph in "Scars" - Even though I was young, I could see the pain of the flesh and the worth of the pain. "This is how a daughter honors her mother. It is shou so deep it is in your bones. The pain of the flesh is nothing. The pain you must forget. Because sometimes that is the only way to remember what is in your bones. You must peel off your skin, and that of your mother, and her mother before her. Until there is nothing. No scar, no skin, no flesh."

How does Tan make the motif of scars so apt?