Mother Daughter Relationships - The Mother-daughter Relationship in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

1165 Words3 Pages

The Mother-daughter Relationship in The Joy Luck Club

In The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, the characters Suyuan and June have a mother-daughter relationship fraught with conflict, but ultimately rooted in deep love and commitment for one another. Because of drastic differences in the environments in which they were raised and in their life experiences, these two women have many opposing ideas and beliefs. This coupled with their lack of communication are responsible for many of the problems they encounter during the course of their relationship. These conflicts are only resolved when June learns about her mother's past and accepts their respective differences. The manner in which their relationship develops and the conflicts June and Suyuan face reveal some of the themes that Amy Tan intends for the readers to learn. These themes concern such topics as finding life's importance, making choices, and understanding ourselves and our families.

Most of the conflicts that June and her mother face are based on misunderstandings and negligence concerning each other's feelings and beliefs. June does not understand or even fully know her mother because she does not know about her tragic past and t he pain she still feels from the memory of it. Because Suyuan lost two daughters in China, and her entire family was killed in the war, she leaves this place behind her and places all of her hopes in America and her family there. She wants the very best for her daughter June. Even her name, Suyuan, meaning "long-cherished wish," speaks of this hope for Jing-Mei, meaning "the pure, essential, best quality younger sister." Suyuan tells her daughter June that she can be anything she wants to be, and that she has great talent. At first June is excited and dreams about what she will become: "In all my imaginings, I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect. My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the need to sulk for anything." (Tan 143) Suyuan pushes June to be successful in many different areas such as dance, academics, trivia, and piano.

After failing to excel at each task set before her, June begins to feel more and more resentment towards her mother. She sees her mother's hopes as expectations, and when she does not live up to these, she feels like a failure.

Show More
Related

  • To What Extent Did the Government Adhere to the Principles of Laissez Faire from 1865 to 1900

    1744 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...erfere with anything other than "unlawful combinations." He also explained, "It is the right of every man to work, labor, and produce in any lawful vocation and to transport his

    Read More

  • Characterization in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Comparing Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club and Waiting for Mr. Kim

    1577 Words  | 4 Pages

    In The Joy Luck Club, the novel traces the fate of the four mothers-Suyuan Woo, An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-ying St. Clair-and their four daughters-June Woo, Rose Hsu Jordan, Waverly Jong, and Lena St. Clair. Through the experiences that these characters go through, they become women. The mothers all fled China in the 1940's and they all retain much of their heritage. Their heritage focuses on what is means to be a female, but more importantly what it means to be an Asian female.

    Read More

  • Mothers and Daughters in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club, the reader can see the difficulites in the mother-daughter relationships.  The mothers came to America from China hoping to give their daughters better lives than what they had.  In China, women were “to be obedient, to honor one’s parents, one’s husband, and to try to please him and his family,” (Chinese-American Women in American Culture).  They were not expected to have their own will and to make their own way through life.  These mothers did not want this for their children so they thought that in America “nobody [would] say her worth [was] measured by the loudness of her husband’s belch…nobody [would] look down on her…” (3).  To represent everything that was hoped for in their daughters, the mothers wanted them to have a “swan- a creature that became more than what was hoped for,” (3).  This swan was all of the mothers’ good intentions.  However, when they got to America, the swan was taken away and all she had left was one feather.

    Read More

  • Mother-Daughter Relationships in Everyday Use, by Alice Walker and Two Kinds, by Amy Tan

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    No two mother and daughter relationships are alike. After reading “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker and “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan I realized that the two stories had the same subject matter: mother and daughter relationships. These two stories show different cultures, generations and parenting methods. Although the two mothers act differently, they are both ultimately motivated by the same desire: to be a good parent. In addition, while researching related articles, I realized that there were two recurring themes of mothers and daughters: respect and diverse ways of parenting.

    Read More

  • Mother Daughter Relationship in The Joy Luck Club

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    The language between a mother and a daughter can create a huge brick wall in their relationship because they have different views on life, and how they should handle it. In the book "The Joy Luck Club," by Amy Tan, a story is told of An-Mei Hus and her daughter Rose Hsu Jordan, who is going though a divorce. An- Mei wants her daughter, Rose, to try and save her marriage. But Rose knows it’s pointless to try and upon that she decides to learn to stick up for her self, get a lawyer, and fight her soon to be ex-husband for the house. The relationship between An-Mei Hsu and Rose Hsu Jordan shows that language is a brick wall, because they don’t understand why wants what they want. Rose doesn’t care to save her marriage; she only wants to get the house. When her mother, An-Mei, wants Rose to fight to save her marriage, because it’s the Chinese way, and how the only way to keep her honor among her family.

    Read More

  • The American Dream in The Joy Luck Club

    1800 Words  | 4 Pages

    When analyzing the Joy Luck club it is important to consider the life of the author. It is apparent after studying both The Joy Luck Club and Amy Tan that there are some incredible similarities among the two, particularly the story of mother Suyuan-Woo and her daughter Jing-Mei Woo. Suyuan is a main character and plays an extremely important role in the novel even though she passed away. She created the Joy Luck club years ago and is the main reason why this tight kit family exists today. Suyuan decided to create the Joy Luck club during a ve...

    Read More

  • The Relationship of Mothers and their Expectations of Daughters in Amy Tan’s "Two Kinds"

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the beginning, Jing-mei, is “just as excited as my mother,”(469). Jing-mei was eagerly hoping to make her mother proud. However, her mother’s obsession with becoming a prodigy discouraged Jing-mei. The daily test began to aggravated Jing-mei because they made her feel less sma...

    Read More

  • The Mother-Daughter Relationship in Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid

    1449 Words  | 3 Pages

    The mother-daughter relationship is a common topic throughout many of Jamaica Kincaid's novels. It is particularly prominent in Annie John, Lucy, and Autobiography of my Mother. This essay however will explore the mother-daughter relationship in Lucy. Lucy tells the story of a young woman who escapes a West Indian island to North America to work as an au pair for Mariah and Lewis, a young couple, and their four girls. As in her other books—especially Annie John—Kincaid uses the mother-daughter relationship as a means to expose some of her underlying themes.

    Read More

  • Influences of the Past

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan portrays the effects of childhood events on the roles and attitudes of the present lives each character must face. Particularly, Lena St. Clair felt restricted by her mother as she shields her from the dangers of the outside world. Consequently, when Lena did face trouble, she was unable to fight back and saw evil in everything she saw. Furthermore, the constant conflict that arose from the male superiority in Ying-Ying’s marriage and her miscommunications with her husband influenced Lena’s present behavior. Instead of expressing her own concerns, Lena allows her husband to make major decisions. Influenced by her childhood experiences and the troubles of the marriage between her parents, Lena inherits a passive role in her relationship to Harold.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between a Mother and Daughter in Two Kinds by Amy Tan

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...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.

    Read More

  • Mother-Daughter Relationships in Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    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). Yet she finds the strength to move on and still retains her traditional values.  She remarries and has Jing-Mei and creates a new life for herself in America.  She is the one who brings together three other women to form the Joy Luck Club. The rift is the greatest between Suyuan and June.  Suyuan tries to force her daughter to be everything she could ever be. She sees the opportunities that America has to offer, and does not want to see her daughter throw those opportunities away.  She wants the best for her daughter, and does not want Jing-Mei to ever let go of something she wants because it is too hard to achieve.  "America is where all my mother's hopes lay. . .There were so many ways for ...

    Read More

  • Glass History Essay

    2820 Words  | 6 Pages

    There is evidence of glass making from as early as 4000 BC. Back then it was mostly used for the coating of stone beads. It was 1500 BC when the first hollow glass container was made. It was made by covering a sand core with a layer of molten glass. It was during the First Century BC that glass blowing became more common. At this time glass was high coloured due to the impurities of the raw materials that were used to make it. The first recorded colourless glass was made in First Century AD. The Romans were one of the most skilled in glass making and held most of the secrets. It wasn’t until the Roman Empire began to fall that the secrets began to leak out into Europe and the Middle East. At this time the greatest reputation for technical skill and artistic ability was held by the Venetians. A far amount of Venetian craftsmen left Italy to set up their own glassworks.

    Read More

  • Essay On Body Mass Index

    3143 Words  | 7 Pages

    When two or more variables move in sympathy with the other, then they are said to be correlated. If both variables move in the same direction, then they are said to be positively correlated. If the variables move in opposite direction, then they are said to be negatively correlated. If they move haphazardly, then there is no correlation between them. Correlation analysis deals with the following:

    Read More

  • Families Fall Apart

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... what I was learning” (Lubrano 582). This just goes to show how learning will “corrupt” a family according to Lubrano. Although the student will be successful the students will have already forgotten about his family.

    Read More

More about Mother Daughter Relationships - The Mother-daughter Relationship in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

Open Document