Growing Up In A New World”‘Then I wish I wasn’t your daughter. I wish you weren’t my mother,’ I shouted.” ‘Too late change this,’ said my mother shrilly.” ‘Then I wish I’d never been born!’ I shouted. ‘I wish I were dead!’ ” (p. 153) In the novel, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, many conflicts arise between the mothers and their daughters. Problems arise from the high expectations from Chinese mothers, the mothers’ pride in their daughters, and the daughters’ disrespect towards their mothers. Two very similar problems grow and resolve in the novel.
The problem between June and her mother reflects the problem between Waverly and her mother. The conflicts between the mothers and daughters of the novel come from the mothers’ high expectations for their daughters. Suyuan expects her daughter June to be a prodigy at something. This idea of a prodigy came from Auntie Lindo, Waverly’s mother. Lindo takes pride in her daughter’s skill in playing chess. Suyuan expects something to be proud of about her daughter as well.
“Of course you can be prodigy, too… You can be best anything. What does Auntie Lindo know? Her daughter, she is only best tricky.” (p. 141) She begins to give June piano lessons. June practices for two hours everyday in preparation for a talent show a few weeks later. Suyuan wanted to show the whole Joy Luck Club her daughter’s talent.
The Term Paper on Jing Mei Mother June Ying
Throughout the book, the conflict between the mothers, their Chinese tradition, and language and the daughters, their American tradition, and language are evident. Suyuan and Jing-Mei Woo are mother and daughter, respectively, who are characters that illustrate the conflict between the two cultures. In the beginning of the story, the mothers who play Mahjong tell Jing-Mei to see her long lost ...
She expected a lot from June, exacerbated by Auntie Lindo’s pride in Waverly. In Waverly’s situation, Auntie Lindo watched closely to her practice playing chess. She gave her tips that she never listened to because her mother never played chess before. Both mothers are very tight on their daughters, hoping to boost their skill and talent.
In the end, their encouragement ends everything in their daughters. Problems only worsen as the mothers brag about their daughters having their talents. The traditional Chinese mothers have expectations for their daughters so they can show them off to everyone. Their daughters having a special talent gives them an augmented appearance, being the mother of that special gift. It gives the mothers a feeling of being higher in society; being able to brag.
One incident of their bragging back and forth is a few weeks before June’s piano talent show. Auntie Lindo talks about her daughter being a celebrity in Chinatown as the chess champion. “Our problem worser than yours. If we asked Jing-me wash dish, she hear nothing but music. It’s like you can’t stop this natural talent.” (p. 149) Suyuan fights back for her own daughter’s talent at playing the piano.
The mothers fight back and forth for their better daughter. This battle between them leads to much more. Their parents’ bragging really gets on the daughters’ nerves, so June and Waverly rebel against their mothers. They begin to disrespect their mothers in different ways. June talks back to her mother when Suyuan tries to get her to practice piano again after the disaster at the talent show. “I didn’t have to do what my mother said anymore.
I wasn’t her slave. This wasn’t China. I had listened to her before and look what happened. She was the stupid one.” (p. 152) After some more fighting, it ended in a truly ugly scene. She wished she was not Suyuan’s daughter and wished she was dead.
This strike straight to her mother’s heart and put her in silence nearly forever. Suyuan could not speak to her daughter anymore. It was quiet between them for months. Suyuan passed away soon after.
The Essay on Mother/Daughter Relationships In The Joy Luck Club
Mother/daughter relationships are a significant aspect of the Joy Luck Club. Characteristics of each mother/daughter relationship relate to the four main themes of the novel. These being, parent/child conflict, the discovery of identity, the idea of balance and harmony as well as the use of symbolism. An example of one mother/daughter relationship in the Joy Luck Club, is that of Lindo and Waverly ...
June did not have enough time to make it up to her mother. She lost in this “battle of wills” knowing that she should have done something about it earlier so she could possibly have her mother still. Waverly had an extremely similar experience with her own mother in Chinatown. They were walking around town and all she heard was her mother’s mouth bragging about her daughter being Chinatown’s famous chess champion.
She put an end to her bragging and ran away from her mother until nighttime. This ruined their relationship. When she got home that night, her mother totally ignored Waverly’s existence. This started the “battle of wills” between Waverly and her mother.
The results came out the same. The mother stood strong and got her daughter coming back to her. Between both mothers and daughters, there was their “battle of wills.” In both, the daughters lost to their respected mothers who stood strongly waiting for the daughters to quit. The many ways that conflicts arose were not necessarily just on any side.
There were flaws on both sides, but in the end, the daughters learned drastically from their experience. The daughters had a lot of influence from their conflicts with their mothers. Both situations taught the daughters very important lessons in life in a traditional Chinese family. Culture in this type of family is highly valuable. June and Waverly eventually learned that.
