Mothers and Daughters in The Joy Luck Club
The first three stories in this section are talking about the relationship between mothers and daughters and the last one is concluding the whole book "The Joy Luck Club". By examining this section, there is one moral in these four stories, which is the relationship between daughters and mothers, is very strong and mothers and daughters have similar fate and face.
The plots in these four stories can prove the moral above. In "Magpies", when An-mei hsu thinks about her daughter's marriage is fallen apart, she recalls her mother and how she followed her mother to Tientsin. An-mei also recalls the conflict between her mother, Wu Tsing and Second wife of Wu Tsing. She remembers how Second wife lied to her mother and how Wu Tsing forced her mother to become his Fourth wife. Finally, An-mei's mother died by taking too much opium. An-mei realizes her mother's situation is as same as her daughter, both of them cannot save their lives very well and they like magpies.
In "Waiting between the Trees", Ying-Ying St. Clair recalls her story in the childhood, when she sees signs in her daughter's house. Ying-Ying recalls how was her first marriage, how she met her first husband and final result on her first marriage. Ying-Ying also talks about her birth year of Tiger and the relationship between she and Clifford St. Clair and how both of them become equally. Ying-Ying realizes the relationship between her and Clifford St. Clair is also as same as her daughter and her husband. Ying-Ying also talks that her daughter is as same as a Tiger. At the end, Yin-Yin know her daughter will go upstairs when her daughter fight with her husband and she will wait for her coming.
In "Double Face", when Lindo Jong looks at her daughter's face, she compares American faces and Chinese faces. Lindo Jong recalls what her mother had told her fortune by looking her face. She also remembers how she moves to America and she realizes that her face becomes American face already.
In "A pair of Ticket", Jing-Mei Woo talks about her feeling before she meet her two sisters. Also, Jing-Mei talks about the meeting in the Airport with her father and aunt. In the meeting, Jing-Mei's father talks about Jing-Mei's mother and how she escaped when Japanese came to China and how she leaves her two daughters on the rail.
“Only two kinds of daughters,” “Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!”(476). When a mother pushes her daughter to hard, the daughter rebels, but realizes in the end that their mothers only wanted the best for them and had their best interest at heart. In the beginning, Jing-mei, is “just as excited as my mother,”(469). Jing-mei eagerly hoped to make her mother proud. However, her mother’s obsession with becoming a prodigy discouraged Jing-mei.
Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club uses much characterization. Each character is portrayed in different yet similar ways. When she was raised, she would do whatever she could to please other people. She even “gave up her life for her parents promise” (49), I the story The Red Candle we get to see how Tan portrays Lindo Jong and how she is brought to life.
There are different types of parent and child relationships. There are relationships based on structure, rules, and family hierarchy. While others are based on understanding, communication, trust, and support. Both may be full of love and good intentions but, it is unmistakable to see the impact each distinct relationship plays in the transformation of a person. In Chang’s story, “The Unforgetting”, and Lagerkvist’s story, “Father and I”, two different father and son relationships are portrayed. “The Unforgetting” interprets Ming and Charles Hwangs’ exchange as very apathetic, detached, and a disinterested. In contrast, the relationship illustrated in the “Father and I” is one of trust, guidance, and security. In comparing and contrasting the two stories, there are distinct differences as well as similarities of their portrayal of a father and son relationship in addition to a tie that influences a child’s rebellion or path in life.
In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, four Chinese born mothers and their four American born daughters tell stories from their own point of view about their relationships with one another. These four mothers demonstrate the finest parenting by trying to keep their heritage alive and educate their daughters, while being immigrants. Through the mothers' actions, they are able to teach and influence their daughters about their Chinese heritage, about everyday life and situations, and how to stand up for themselves all while being in an overwhelming American society.
Amy Tan's "A Pair of Tickets," especially, explores the relationship of setting to place, heritage, and ethnic identity. Jing-Mei Woo, the main character, has trouble accepting that she is Chinese, despite her heritage. Jing-Mei Woo believed, at fifteen, that she had no Chinese whatsoever below her skin. If anything, she perceives herself as Caucasian; even her Caucasian friends agreed that she "was as Chinese as they were." Her mother, however, told her differently, "It's in your blood, waiting to be let go."
Throughout the 20th century, the United States tried to control Iran to ensure the exportation of oil to America. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi came to power in 1941 and became allies with the United States. However in the 1950s, Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh began to gain political power. Unlike the Shah, he was extremely against western influence in Iran. Mossadegh won national elections and he demanded more power. In order to retain influence in Iran, the CIA helped overthrow Mossadegh and bring Pahlavi back to power....
The four daughters: Waverly, Lena, Rose, and Jing-Mei are all Americans. Even though they absorb some of the traditions of Chinese culture they are raised in America and American ideals and values. This inability to communicate and the clash between cultures create rifts between mothers and daughters. The hardest problem communicating emerges between Suyuan and Jing-Mei. Suyuan is a very strong woman who lost everything she ever had in China: "her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls" (141).
In the story "A Pair of Tickets," by Amy Tan, a woman by the name of Jing-mei struggles with her identity as a Chinese female. Throughout her childhood, she "vigorously denied" (857) that she had any Chinese under her skin. Then her mother dies when Jing-Mei is in her 30's, and only three months after her father receives a letter from her twin daughters, Jing-Mei's half sisters. It is when Jing-mei hears her sisters are alive, that she and her dad take a trip overseas to meet her relatives and finally unites with her sisters. This story focuses on a woman's philosophical struggle to accept her true identity.
Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (Progeria or HGPS) is a rare genetic mutation that is characterised by premature aging. Only 40 cases have been recognized worldwide. It is characterised by medical features that develop in childhood and they resemble some features of accelerated aging. (Eriksson, 2003) The name “Progeria” comes from the Greek and it means “prematurely old.” There are different types of Progeria, but this is the classic type and was named after the doctors who first discovered it.
Jing-mei and her mother have conflicting values of how Jing-mei should live her life. She tries to see what becoming a prodigy would be like from her mother's point of view and the perks that it would bring her as she states in the story "In all my imaginings, I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect. My mother and f...
In life, many things can be taken for granted - especially the things that mean the most to you. You just might not realize it until you've lost it all. As I walk down the road finishing up my teenage days, I slowly have been finding a better understanding of my mother. The kind of bond that mothers and daughters have is beyond hard to describe. It's probably the biggest rollercoaster ride of emotions that I'll ever have the chance to live through in my lifetime. But, for those of us who are lucky enough to survive the ride in one piece, it's an amazing learning experience that will influence your entire future.
...ith Jing Mei and her mother, it is compounded by the fact that there are dual nationalities involved as well. Not only did the mother’s good intentions bring about failure and disappointment from Jing Mei, but rooted in her mother’s culture was the belief that children are to be obedient and give respect to their elders. "Only two kinds of daughters.....those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!" (Tan1) is the comment made by her mother when Jing Mei refuses to continue with piano lessons. In the end, this story shows that not only is the mother-daughter relationship intricately complex but is made even more so with cultural and generational differences added to the mix.
Throughout the years, I have had to deal with many trials, and challenges. Growing up BI-racial had a big affect on both my parents’ relationship, my relationship with my parents (which later on lead to their separation). There were cultural clashes within my household; my mother who was from Korea, and my father who was from Panama. I had learned to depend on myself, my friends, and most importantly, on God.
Having inherited the myth of ugliness and unworthiness, the characters throughout the story, with the exception of the MacTeer family, will not only allow this to happen, but will instill this in their children to be passed on to the next generation. Beauty precedes love, the grownups seem to say, and only a few possess beauty, so they remain unloved and unworthy. Throughout the novel, the convictions of sons and daughters are the same as their fathers and mothers. Their failures and accomplishments are transferred to their children and to future generations.