Joy Luck Club Conflict Essay

Joy Luck Club Conflict/Theme Analysis Essay

Mothers and daughters often have many conflicts. As a daughter, I know that my mom wants the best for me. She wants to make sure that the mistakes she made, I will not also experience. However, this could cause disputes in the relationship. She and I are diverse. We live in a different time, we are two entirely unique people, and we were raised differently. She must let me make my own decisions. This is the same with all of the mothers and their daughters in The Joy Luck Club.

An-mei and her daughter are very disconnected. An-mei Hsu is a mother in The Joy Luck Club, and did not grow up with a normal mother figure of her own. In the chapter “Scar” she explains, “My mother was a ghost (pg 33).” She was raised partially by her Aunt and Uncle, and was not even allowed to mention her mom. Eventually, An-mei meets her mom, and decides to leave her whole life behind to follow this stranger, who she so badly wants a connection with. An-mei has a daughter named Rose. Rose is raised in

Lindo is Waverly’s mother in The Joy Luck Club. She was betrothed at age 2. She moved in with her husband at age 12, and was treated like a slave. She endured this marriage to keep a promise that she had made to her parents, and to honor them. While telling her story in “The Red Candle” she says “I sacrificed my life to keep my parent's’ promise (pg 42).” She eventually schemed her way out of the marriage, so that it was called off honorably. Lindo’s daughter Waverly, grew up with a great life in comparison to her mom. She was a successful chess player and was raised in Chinatown, San Francisco. She also had great marriage mistakes. She married her high school sweetheart, and had a daughter of her own. They divorced, and 4 years later was engaged to Rich, a man as far from her culture as possible. In this way, Lindo and her daughter both had marriage struggles, but it did not bring them any