The memoir "Digging in China," by Michelle Yu, is a beautifully written piece about the author's anger and resentment towards her mother, who put her up for adoption. This was a result of a Chinese law dictating that each family could only have one child, which caused an epidemic of parents giving up their daughters in the hopes that they could have a son, since boys were seen as the bread-earners of a family. As the author speculates later in the memoir, her mother could also have given her up in the hopes that a good family would adopt her and provide her with opportunities that she could not have had if she stayed in China. The progression of the author from feeling angry and bitter towards her mother to beginning to forgive her was what touched me most about this piece.

In a way, it also related to me personally. While my situation is in no way similar to the author's experience of abandonment, I have held resentment towards one of my parents, namely my father. My parents divorced when I was a year old because he wasn't supporting the family financially or domestically, and he didn't even try to fight for custody of me in court. While I'm glad that I live with my mom, it still feels strange when you have a parent who obviously had no regard towards you. However, this piece has helped me not fully forgive him, but maintain a kind of neutrality towards the subject. Although, I hope one day I will have the maturity to move on.