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Superstition In Amy Tan's Scar

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With fear in her heart, Lindo Jong questions, “‘What is a true person?’ Would I change in the same ways the river changes color but still be the same person?” (Tan 58). Upon the journeys of life, a multitude of people question themselves, their lives, and their stances in this world. Within many cultures, the beliefs which ethnic backgrounds instill within the youth tend to lead these people to their self-identities. Within the short story “Scar” by Amy Tan, one woman named An-mei Hsu relives the story of her childhood. While growing up, she lives with her aunt and uncle and her grandmother, Popo, raises her. During this time she discovers her mother has become a disgrace to the family by leaving her husband to become a concubine for a wealthy …show more content…

Within “Scars” the grandmother tells the young girl many wise-tales with morbid endings do to young girls misbehaviors (Tan 42-43). The stories forever leave impressions on the young girl, who grows to follow her grandmother’s stories out of fear of the grotesque punishments which followed the misbehavior in the stories. The superstitions appear within “The Red Candle” also. The narrator retells, “‘I had a dream… our ancestors came to me and said they wanted to see our wedding… They shouted that the marriage was doomed!” (Tan 64). With this elaborate fake dream, the narrator scares her dreaded family through marriage into believing the arranged marriage was not approved by the ancestors of their past. With the Chinese superstition that ancestors must approve and be honored, the family allows the marriage to come to an end, which allows Lindo Jong to leave without dishonoring her family.
To commence, the ideas of family relationships, tradition, and superstitions within both Amy Tan’s short stories, “Scar” and “The Red Candle”, possess major effects on the main characters. Without the usages of these ideas of Chinese culture many of the morals, beliefs, and understandings of the characters would not exist as they do. I really do not have any questions on the selections, and surprisingly found these stories enjoyable to

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