Culture was the source of many difficulties between each mother-daughter pair. With few similarities between Chinese and American traditions, mother and daughter had contradicting points of view on the modern world. “‘Chinese people do many things,” she said simply. “Chinese people do business, do medicine, do painting. Not lazy like American people.”’(Tan, 91) Lindo Jong showed extreme pride in her home country while shining a stereotypically negative light on Americans.
When she travels to China, she discovers the Chinese essence within herself, thus realizing a deep connection to her mother that she had always ignored. She also brings Suyuan’s story to her long-lost twin daughters, and, once reunited with her half-sisters, gains an even more profound understanding of who her mother was.For the most part, Jing-mei’s fears echo those of her peers, the other daughters of the Joy Luck Club members. They have always identified with Americans but are beginning to regret having neglected their Chinese heritage. Her fears also speak to a reciprocal fear shared by the mothers, who wonder whether, by giving their daughters American opportunities and self-sufficiency, they have alienated them from their Chinese heritage.Jing-mei is representative in other ways as well. She believes that her mother’s constant criticism bespeaks a lack of affection, when in fact her mother’s severity and high expectations are expressions of love and faith in her daughter.
The Daughters in The Joy Luck Club battle the cultural differences between the ancient values of their immigrant mothers and the American way of life they live in. In China, the mothers were taught strength of character was built through obedience. In modern American, the daughters are exposed to a society where women have more freedom of expression. Even clothing is different in each culture. The daughters are being raised on conflicting cultural differences.
Mother-daughter relationship in the Joy Luck Club Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club enjoys high fame in the field of Chinese American literature. It mainly tells a story of four mothers, fled from China to America with tragedies and hardships left behind, yet all cherished good intensions and wished to pass them to their daughters born on this new land. This seemingly simple work contains so affluent contents that it can be interpreted from numerous aspects, feminism, post-colonialism, cultural clashes and so on. However, the eternal theme is the mother-daughter relationships, which is conflicting and finally comes to understanding and reconciliation. This essay, mainly focusing on Suyuan Woo and her daughter June, is aiming to further analyze the causes and manifestations of this complicated mother-daughter relationship.
In the Episode of the Crabs, it’s clear that Waverly, like her mother, demands the very best. Waverly is, in a sense, Lindo’s selfish side unmitigated by filial duty or obligation. Waverly, like all of the other daughters in The Joy Luck Club, has a strained relationship with her mother. Waverly, as stated earlier, is independent and likes to assert her independence to her mom. She makes a show of not taking her mother’s advice by saying things like, "Don’t be so old-fashioned, Ma […].
In most cases this is true, for when they grow up they eventually figure out that they can reflect (retrace) their problems to that of their parents, and later understand what they had to go through. In the story The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, Jing-mei is (acts like) an ignorant girl to her mother. Whatever tactic her mother tries on her to make her a better person she rejects. Jing-mei is constantly trying to hide her Chinese heritage and even changes her name to “June” to conform to American ways. But as she moves on in life, she begins to regret her past actions and finds out that her mother’s difficulties and problems, are (now) put on her shoulders and (now) for her to solve.
Chua’s text is very harsh toned, yet effective due to the use of all three appeals: Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. The author is raised by Chinese parents, which defines a big part of who she is. In the text Chua uses Ethos to establish her personal experience with parenting. She chooses a hard, and a time consuming parenting technique “ The Chinese method” to raise both of her daughters. For instance:“ A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids well I can tell them, Bachour 2 !
Most people who are familiar with Cinderella have little understanding of the subliminal messages associated and the consequences involved. To many, Cinderella is a harmless story of a young girl who struggles through life, is finally able to achieve her dreams, and lives happily ever after. In reality, the patriarchal gender expectations and rewards associated with Disney’s Cinderella can be damaging to young girls and their self-image. Therefore, in order to render the misogynistic ideologies of these stories invalid, modern pedagogy should be recreated to incorporate potential empowerment for both genders. Most people believe fairy tales to be harmless to a girl’s development, unable to comprehend the reality of the situation: the gender stereotyping involved in these stories can be influential in several ways (Bonds-Raake 232).
Not one family is the same as the next. Whether you are comparing two families that live next door to each other or two families from completely different cultures you will find unique differences in every family dynamic. You will also find that parenting differs in each household. In this paper I will discuss these differences; such as: the effects of culture on parenting, the different roles parents play, and the changes in parenting over the generations. The point that Amy Chua stresses the most in Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is the difference between “Chinese parenting” and “Western parenting.” It is clear that in her opinion Chinese children excel more than American children because they are constantly being pushed by their mothers to be the best at everything they do.
Being always ready to help she is obliged to forget about her own wealth. Helping is her paramount destination. Sometimes girls feel as if they are alone in this world and they can do nothing with the pressure of gender stereotypes, as soon as all their actions will be considered as inapplicable for the standards of society. A girl should stop for a moment and think of what she can undertake in order to reverse the situation. There are three effective ways of avoiding having culture’s gender stereotypes derail girls’ dreams: a search for the supporters, a careful explanation, and an attempt to go through the personal experience.