What is Tiger Skin?

Both of the stories that the tiger tells Lily have to do with a woman with tiger skin and human skin -- a woman torn by two different 'selves' and the ramifications of choosing one over the other. In the tiger's stories, the grandmother sacrificed her tiger side in order to protect her daughter and granddaughter, but the granddaughter develops a similar duality which the grandmother wants her to suppress. The granddaughter, on the other hand, is comfortable with her tiger skin and chooses to give it full reign. The tiger skin symbolizes an 'other' culture, in this novel Korean culture, which many of those living in the United States must grapple with. Some older generations, fearing for their own or their children's well-being, elected to hide away their 'other' skins, their 'other' cultures, but some younger generations show a determination to explore their immigration stories and backgrounds. The tiger skin symbolizes that different part of one's self which, contrary to what the grandmother in the story believes, is not a threat to one's identity and well-being but rather inherently a part of one's story and identity.