The Significance of Mother-Daughter Relationships in Amy...

The Significance of Mother-Daughter Relationships in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club In her novel The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan tells of the lives of four Chinese immigrant mothers, their hopes, their dreams and the way each of their daughters feel about their mothers lives. Mother-daughter relationships are the basis for the entire story. Tan shows the hardships each mother experiences as a child and young adult, and how they all want better lives for their daughters. She shows the struggles between the mothers and the daughters; these struggles result from many different things, from the cultural gap, to dreams and goals that may have been set too high. Each daughter knows her mother means well, but this does not make the battles any†¦show more content†¦Throughout the novel readers see that Jing-mei wants to learn about her mother and her mothers past. She wants to learn about Suyuan’s struggles in China and she wants to meet her two sisters whom her mother had to give up against her will. June is overwhelmed when the other members of The Joy L uck Club give her two tickets to travel to her mothers former residence in China. She is very excited to learn about her past and to understand her mother better. Ying-ying and Lena St. Clair are more alike than they realize even though Lena is a lot more quiet and conservative than Ying-ying ever was. As a child Ying-ying was mischievous and spoiled. She only thinks of herself until the night she visits the moon lady, this is when she comes to realize the true meaning of the special day and how she is to use her one wish. Lena is not as rebellious as her mother, but still tends to follow her own will instead of what her mother wishes for her to do. Lena and Ying-ying both marry bad men who dont understand their needs. Ying-yings first husband is violent and abusive in a physical way, whereas Lenas husband is abusive in a mental way. Harold feels he is treating Lena how he should be really he is being unfair to her. The couple splits the bill on everything, even though sometimes Lena ends up paying for things that she reallyShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Two Kinds By Amy Tan1567 Words   |  7 Pages One of the most complex relationships is that of a mother and daughter. Amy Tan is an author who writes about her life growing up as an Asian-American in Chinatown. Her novel The Joy Luck Club is a series of short stories about Chinese mothers and their assimilated daughters. One of these stories is â€Å"Two Kinds,† which looks into the life of Jing-Mei Woo and her struggle to gain a sense of self. Some key themes in The Joy Luck Club are the generational and intercultural differences among Chinese-AmericanRead MoreConflicts Resolved in the Joy Luck Club1442 Words   |  6 Pagesconflicts in Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club. 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