The Roles of Culture, Mothers, and Daughters in Amy Tans The Joy Luck

A mother is best. A mother knows what is inside of you, said An-Mei Hsu to her miss Rose (188). And this is true for whole four of the mothers in the exuberate luck Club, by Amy Tan. Unfortunately it was much much complicated than that, because the daughters had minds of their own, to a real extent, minds that were part American. The emphasis on honor, obedience, and loyalty among women are immense in this novel (The Joy Luck Club An Overview). In America, these characteristics were not forceful nearly as much and that is what caused tension between mother and daughter. The Joy Luck Club was founded by Suyuan Woo, and when she passed away, the Club looked to her daughter Jing-Mei to replace her. Suyuan was a very strong-willed woman who had suffered many hardships. In the process of fleeing from the encroaching(a) Japanese, she had to abandon her two babies from her first husband. Things exchangeable that are what caused her to be so strong, but her daughter was doubtful in her ability to fill the portion her mother once played. Jing-Mei brought much hope to her mother. Suyuan was very critical of the batch around her, so she was especially critical of her daughter. Once, Jing-Mei confronted her about being so critical, saying people rise to other peoples expectations (31). Suyuan replayed to her daughter, Thats the trouble, you never rise. Lazy to get up. Lazy to rise to expectations (31). And that was the basis of the mother-daughter kinship between Suyuan and Jing-Mei. Suyuan always had very high expectations for her daughter wanting her to be a child prodigy. She would give Jing-Mei tests on things she would read in magazines, like knowing the capitals of the states or multiplying numbers. Jing-Mei ev... ...ough the daughters possessed different personalities, and the mothers varied in strength, they all had one important thing in common they all cherished their daughters to listen to them. The mothers firmly believed that if you were ob edient to your mother you would levy up a good Chinese woman but that was the problem. whizz of the major conflicts between the mothers and their daughters is the desire of the young generation to become more Americanized (Ballantine Teachers Guide on The Joy Luck Club). The daughters were raise in America, which meant that they were influenced a great deal by American ways. there was no preventing that. The significance of the relationships between mother and daughter were a precede of a clash of culture between Chinese belief and American tradition. WORKS CITED Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. New York Random House, 1989.