The Speaker's Self

"Shedding Skin" regards the physical and symbolic process of shedding, which situates the poem in the speaker's body and sense of self. While desquamation is an involuntary and continuous process, the speaker actively participates in the affair. She pulls out of, strips off, slips out of, leaves behind, sloughs off, slicks, peels, blinks, and rubs her way toward tenderness. The fact that "vulnerable stuff" already lies beneath the speaker's tough exterior suggests that shedding is an act of reclaiming her authentic self (10). This affords her both "a new way of seeing" and the capacity to return to a former state of tenderness (12).

The Speaker's External Environment

Although the speaker does not delve into the circumstances that formed her scars, the fact that she formed such a tough and scarred exterior in the first place suggests a difficult environment. Such an environment that fosters defensiveness is characterized...