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Oily Rag

This object symbolizes the repression of emotion. Belinda recalls that when she had first arrived to work as a housegirl for Aunty and Uncle, she had needed a place of her own in which to cry and to scream and to utilize this object. This object helps Belinda feel as if her emotional pain will remain hidden from others, demonstrating the level of self-reliance to which she has become accustomed since her father stopped paying her school tuition and her mother saw the notice for a housegirl position.

Tooth Gap

This object symbolizes many aspects of Amma's persona, including her uniqueness, her unjustly negative self-image, and the disparity between her self-image and the way in which others see her. Amma looks in the mirror at one point, noting to herself that other girls whose appearance included this object would have definitely had it fixed as soon...

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