1.From a one through five scale, this chapter was in between two and three. I liked how a scar is both physically and mentally on An-Mei Hsu. Physically, the boiling soup spills on her neck and mentally, the scar symbolizes memories of her banished mother. What really disgusted me was when An-Mei’s mother cuts of a chunk of her skin to stir her warm flesh into the curing soup. What a sacrifice! However, the flesh was worthless since Popo ends up dying anyways. Throughout this chapter, I hated how An-Mei’s mother was viewed guilty to her entire family. It wasn’t her mother’s fault for not producing a son. Amy Tan’s local color in this chapter describes situations in that generation when men slept with concubines to keep the honor by producing sons. An-Mei’s mother was one of Wu Tsing’s mistresses. This tradition shows a lot of inequality for women since they were forced to be banished from the house, like An-Mei’s mother, and considered an outcast from the family when not producing a son. This also shows inequality for women because sons were preferable than daughters. What I found to be strange was after An-Mei gets burnt, Popo seems to be preparing for An-Mei’s deathbed. I believe she was doing that to scare An-Mei from liking her mother.
2. An-Mei and her mother have a close bonding relationship. Although, An-Mei is taught her mother is a disgrace to the family, An-Mei learns to love her mother since she feels like a “girl whose belly held a colorless winter melon”, probably signifying her longing for her nurturing mother. In return, An-Mei’s mother wants her daughter to know her as she strokes her head and says, “An-mei, you know who I am.” Her fear is to be neglected by her daughter as well as her family.
3. Lastly, I would like to focus on the conflict in this chapter. In this chapter, An-Mei has an internal conflict since she loves her mother and wants her, however, her family disapproves that.
