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The Importance of Mother-daughter Relationships in The Joy Luck Club

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Words: 935 |

Pages: 2|

5 min read

Published: Dec 16, 2021

Words: 935|Pages: 2|5 min read

Published: Dec 16, 2021

During the 20th century, literature took an uprise in the world of fiction in the United States, where many writers originating from a diversity of ethnic minorities shared their ideas, background, and culture with the public. Chinese American novelist, Amy Tan, is best known for her first novel, The Joy Luck Club; a story of emotional conflict between Chinese American mothers and daughters separated by generational and cultural differences. Tan demonstrates the strength and importance of mother-daughter relationships through the characterization of the women using the symbolism of jewelry and chess, and the irony of family relationships.

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As complex as they may be, Tan’s novel pays particular attention to the special connection between mothers and daughters being extremely valued and powerful. For instance, after An-mei’s mother attempts to save Popo by adding her own flesh to a Chinese soup, An-mei realizes, “This is how a daughter honors her mother. It is shou so deep it is in your bones”. From the relationship displayed between An-Mei’s mother and grandmother, she realises that the connection is still strong even though Popo forbade her from coming back home and An-Mei from talking about her. Tan illustrates how no matter the countless differences and troubles a daughter and mother may have, deep down, she still loves and cares for her. Moreover, Born of a Stranger, published in 2009, by Gloria Shen, describes the novel’s mother-daughter relationships, through illustrating:

Though the mothers all have different names and individual stories, they seem interchangeable in that they all have similar personalities — strong, determined, and endowed with mysterious power—and that they all show similar concerns about their daughters' welfare. As a result, the mothers are possessively trying to hold onto their daughters, and the daughters are battling to get away from their mothers.

Essentially, Tan describes how the mothers’ lives, though different, all develop similar mindsets and convey their love through their life stories to help their daughters understand the meaning of their actions. Furthermore, after the mothers find out that Jing-Mei never really knew her mother, she realizes, “They see daughters who grow impatient when their mothers talk in Chinese, who think they are stupid when they explain things in fractured English... They see daughters who will bear grandchildren born without any connecting hope passed from generation to generation”. The mothers see their own daughters reflected in Jing-mei and realize how little she knew about her own mother’s past. They realise the relationships with their daughters are the same and their stories need to be told, before it is too late. Their individual decisions to tell the stories and their secrets and histories, is their last attempt to bridge the gap between cultures, languages and generations and restore the mother and daughter relationship.

An-Mei Hsu reveals more about her relationships with her mother and daughter such as how complicated relationships are still relationships and that complex connections can flourish into strong, powerful bonds. After An-Mei’s mother put her flesh in the soup, she advised, “You must peel off your skin, and that of your mother, and her mother before her”. An-mei says that daughters must metaphorically peel off their own skin to see the love and influence of their mother beneath. All mothers and daughters are connected, and daughters need to honor that. But they also need to discover their own strength apart from their mothers. Additionally, in the article, “An-Mei Hsu”, Catherine Romagnolo describes how despite An-Mei’s attempts to teach Rose to not repeat the mistakes she made “ Rose comes to better understand herself and her own desires by listening to her mother's wisdom, and in the end, she is able to extricate herself from a loveless marriage”. Essentially, despite An-Mei’s efforts, she feels she is unsuccessful in raising her daughter the opposite way she was brought up.

For example, almost all the mothers grew up in poor families without many luxuries, so the jewelry illustrates a mother’s love for her daughter; after a Chinese New Year feast, Jing-Mei recalls, “my mother gave me my ‘life’s importance,’ a jade pendant on a gold chain...the whole effect looked wrong: too large, too green, too garishly ornate. I stuffed the necklace in my lacquer box and forgot about it”. Jing-Mei did not understand the jade necklace in the same way she did not understand her mother. The jade was given to Jing-Mei to not only provide a sense of positivity and protection, but it also expresses and reveals Suyuan’s love for her daughter. In addition, as Waverly lays down on her bed, she imagines, “Her [mother’s] black men advanced across the plane, slowly menacing to each successive level as a single unit. My white pieces screamed as they scurried and fell off the board one by one”. When it comes to her relationship with her mother, the black and white chessboard pieces symbolize Waverly’s black-and-white way of thinking, for she associates her criticism with bitterness, even though that is not what Lindo Jong ultimately intends.

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The irony of mother-daughter relationships varies from person to person such as how some daughters tend to attain more knowledge than their mothers. For instance, while being a mother who dearly loves her daughter, “Lindo Jong tries to instill in her daughter, Waverly, a sense of both obedience and self-worth. She wants her daughter to have ‘American circumstances and Chinese character”’. Furthermore, Lindo made a decision: “When she is free of the marriage, [she] leaves for America, where she remarries and has three children...Lindo thinks she has failed to teach her Chinese character. She is surprised and satisfied, however, when Waverly demonstrates Chinese character that Lindo did not know she possessed.  

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Dr. Charlotte Jacobson

Cite this Essay

The Importance Of Mother-daughter Relationships In The Joy Luck Club. (2021, December 16). GradesFixer. Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/the-importance-of-mother-daughter-relationships-in-the-joy-luck-club/
“The Importance Of Mother-daughter Relationships In The Joy Luck Club.” GradesFixer, 16 Dec. 2021, gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/the-importance-of-mother-daughter-relationships-in-the-joy-luck-club/
The Importance Of Mother-daughter Relationships In The Joy Luck Club. [online]. Available at: <https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/the-importance-of-mother-daughter-relationships-in-the-joy-luck-club/> [Accessed 29 Mar. 2024].
The Importance Of Mother-daughter Relationships In The Joy Luck Club [Internet]. GradesFixer. 2021 Dec 16 [cited 2024 Mar 29]. Available from: https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/the-importance-of-mother-daughter-relationships-in-the-joy-luck-club/
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