The poem Yarn Wig by Louis-Ann Yamanaka was a very interesting in terms of family relations particularly the three sisters. The mother-daughters relationships taking a different twist in this selected piece due to its unique execution of what it must have been like for these young girls to be in a sense transformed by their mother. The mother playing this dominant role in their life setting them up to feel a bit insecure due their physical appearance. "My madda cut our hair so short. Shit, us look like boys, I no joke you" (Louis-Ann Yamanaka, Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre, 83). Here we have three sisters being taken away from their feminine identity because their mother doesn't feel the need to spend quality time on their grooming. She wants to take the easy way out by cutting their hair short, saving her from wasting time on their daily grooming. For the mother it sort of works out, but the girls feel self-estranged. Although later on the mother tries to cover up her mistake by creating a wig as an alternative the girls already faced the bullying from their fellow schoolmates. Here I feel the only reason the mother really made these wigs for her daughters were to save them from humiliation, but not because she truly knew she had made a mistake. Interestingly, two out of the three sisters really liked their new-wigs whereas the third sister couldn't bear to leave on this false new-do. This resulting in her breaking away from the social norms despite the bullying that follows. She separating herself from the social expectations, remaining an outcast as she had stated herself, "I pull my bangs real hard with both hands and start feeling real bolohead" (Louis-Ann Yamanaka, Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre, 85). The character of this particular individual stood out to me, simply because she was bold enough to be herself regardless of what society expectations may have been.
-Puja C. Patel-