Faces

Faces and the body are often more than just a character's physical appearance in Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth. Rather, they symbolize a deeper meaning. In the first introductory line of the book, the speaker's face is the only place where her parents are still together, because she has her mother's mouth and her father's eyes. Here, their face symbolizes their parents’ union, and its enduring legacy, which is their child. In "Ugly," the daughter is ugly and unlovable because her body is "littered with ugly things," like refugee camps and civil wars (32). Her face symbolizes all of the hardships and upheavals that she has endured, and this is what makes it hard to love.

Maymuun's Mouth

The title of "Maymuun's Mouth" is also the main symbol in the piece; Maymuun's mouth represents her adaptations to her new country, because it embodies her new...