Amy Tan- Confessions

The reading that grabbed my attention most was Amy Tan's Confessions. In the beginning of the story, there is obvious tension and sadness, but i did not expect it to escalate to the extent it does. It is interesting to see how the mother reacts to the idea of a boyfriend in her daughter's life. It is as if there is no room for another masculine figure, especially after the death of her son and husband. 

The idea of possession and selfishness keep popping up for me, probably because suicide is brought up multiple times, or so the writer suggests.  The mother would rather kill her daughter than see her ruin her own life, and then ultimately threatens to destroy the whole family by taking everyone's life. 

I really liked the line, "I kept my face in the window, unmoved. What does she know about sad? (p.89)" This really conveyed sorrow to me, because it wasn't the hysterical kind of sorrow that we see in the mother. It was internal, without physical emotion, or tears. The thought of knowing your mother wanted her to die rather than her son and husband leaves her in emotional turmoil, but we don't see its physical ramifications until the very end when she does actually begin to cry, "This is sad, this is so sad. (p.90)" I found the title to be most fitting and tie into the end of the story when she claims to have somehow subconsciously repressed that moment in time, and it rushes back to her in a writer's workshop. She wants her mom to confess something she always wanted to know, did her mom really mean to kill her? Although she gets a slanted answer, she takes away from that almost a positive spin, "How wonderful to hear her say what was never true, yet now would be forever so. (p.90)" I don't feel that she is completely satisfied with the response, but now does not have a choice.