Crying in H Mart

Throughout the memoir, Zauner has to contend with her mother’s depreciating condition as she first goes through chemo and then decides to stop it. As a result, Zauner finds herself caring for her mother in a reversal of her childhood. Consider these points as you reflect on the text to answer the following questions:

• How does Zauner perceive her relationship with her mother? Conversely, based on Zauner’s narrative, how might Chongmi have perceived her daughter?
• How does Zauner try to provide dignity for her mother as her condition deteriorates? What might we learn about caretaking from this memoir?
• How does Zauner come to process her grief?

Teaching Suggestion: Zauner’s grief permeates her memoir, and by framing the discussion through this lens, students can better understand the themes of The Difficult Relationship Between an Immigrant Mother and Her Daughter and The Undignified Reality of Death by Cancer.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students with attentional and executive function differences may benefit from preparing for this activity with a graphic organizer that contains two columns of bullet points. Each column can be used to represent one of the women, allowing students to fill in the bullet points under each woman with examples and evidence of that woman’s perception of the other.