What Mothers See

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Mothers have a unique ability to see their daughters. They see them in a way no one else does. Often what a daughter perceives as her mother’s opinion is really not how she feels at all. The mothers in Joy Luck Club see more then what is on the surface of their daughters, they see inside them. As An-mei Hsu tells her daughter “A mother is best. A mother knows what is inside you” (Tan 188). The mothers in the Joy Luck Club want more for their daughters then the daughters realize. Ying-ying wants her daughter to have a more honest, less passive relationship then she had with her husband and she believes that Lena deserves it. The section American Translation opens with a short story which shows a mother who sees in her daughter, not only the daughter, but the child she will have and the mother she will become. Her mother sees more than what is obvious. Lena’s mother does too. She sees that Lena’s life is currently “a room with no life in it” and that she and her husband spend too much time saying “words that mean nothing” (Tan 252).

As a child, Lena literally translated much of her parents’ life for them. Her father spoke little Chinese and her mother spoke only some English. Lena learned to translate so each parent would hear what she thought they wanted to hear (Tan 112). She never learned the way a husband and wife should really communicate and she carried this through to her marriage. Her one positive communication role model was their neighbor. For years, she thought their yelling and arguing ended in violence, until she finally realized their arguments were “shouting with love” (Tan 115). Her neighbors gave her hope that life would not be terrible, that people could find the good in each other.
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...able or their marriage could make it collapse. Harold pays no more attention to the fact that the table can collapse then he does to Lena and their marriage. When the table finally breaks, Lena’s mother’s comment is “fallen down” (Tan 165) just like Lena’s marriage.

Lena tells her mother that she knew the table would break and her mother asks the simple question “why you not stop it?” (Tan 165). Lena’s mother doesn’t want her to make the same mistake she made in not communicating with her husband. She knows that Lena could improve the foundation of her marriage by speaking up for herself. Years ago, Ying-ying became and “unseen spirit” (Tan 251) because of her first husband and she expects more from her daughter. Ying-ying sees that Lena can be more the “ghost” that you cannot see (Tan 163). Lena can create her own future, not just passively let it happen.

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