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.
Velez2 Jennifer Velez Comp107 Miss Atzeni 3/22/2012 The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl By Elizabeth Wong In Elizabeth Wong’s writing on how she struggled to be an “All-American” girl, she expresses the strict religion and culture brought on by her single-parent raising mother, when all she only wanted was to fit in with American culture. While Elizabeth and her brother wanted to play childhood games, such as ghost hunt, with their friends their mother was stern on the importance of learning the language of their heritage. She would walk them seven long blocks to Chinese school, no matter how often they pleaded with her to not attend. Elizabeth wasn’t fond of the smell of the school or that the learning was restricted. She felt that American school would be a better fit for her.
First she tried dancing and singing, “At first my mother thought I could become a Chinese Shirley Temple” (200). Because Jing Mei is a first generation Chinese American she has the same physical qualities as a young Chinese girl. There was no way she could look like Shirley Temple. Jing Mei has straight black hair and after a bad trip to the hair dresser her hair is in the style of Peter Pan. Jing Mei never wanted to do the things her mother wanted her to do.
Suyuan’s most cherished wish was that she could be reunited with her long-lost twin daughters. The friends urge her to go to China and tell her sisters about their mother. Jing-mei doesn’t think that she’s capable of telling her twin sisters about their mother because Jing-mei isn’t sure she knew their mom herself. She travels to China and realizes that she’s more Chinese than she thought. She learns about her own identity while also learning about her mother.
Nearly 40 years after the first meeting, as the novel opens, Suyuan Woo has died and her place at the mah jongg table is assumed by her 36-year-old daughter, Jing-mei. Like many another American-born child of immigrants, Jing-mei has little understanding of her mother's values or the world that shaped them, although recently, the general interest in ethnicity has prompted her to revive her Chinese name, "Jing-mei,'' in preference to the American "June May,'' and has made her more curious about her roots. When her Joy Luck "aunties'' (Lindo Jong, An-mei Hsu, and Ying-ying St. Clair) offer Jing-mei a trip to China to meet her long-lost half sisters, whom Suyuan was forced to abandon as infants while fleeing war-torn Guilin, the "aunties'' (now edging into their 70s) urge Jing-mei to tell her half sisters the story of the mother they never knew. The trouble is, Jing-mei feels she never really knew her mother, either - a feeling shared by the other Joy Luck daughters: Waverly Jong, Rose Hsu Jordan, and Lena St. Clair. The daughters' difficulty in comprehending their mothers
It’s Me, Margaret would feel pretty life-changing to young girl growing up, unable to talk about the challenges of puberty and worries of getting your first period. (It’s odd to think how disputed this was in the 1980s, when it became a ‘banned book’). It’s incredible to discover a book where the main character is going through something you’re going through, something that you couldn’t talk to other people about. I only had teen magazines! It reminded me of all the things I used to worry about as a 11 to 14-year-old and how the worrying doesn’t stop, but the things you’re worrying about just change.
They can be noticed firstly in the words and behaviors. For instance, the eldest sister can’t help moving away and getting married the moment she’s just got a kiss after several years of abstinency; the elder one feels disgusted with the remarks of so-called keeping the relationship as friends; the father frequently refers to that “Don’t forget to come back for the Sunday dinner” while they can’t get a happy reunion all the time. Digging these simple sentences and practices, we may find there being enormous difference in the life style between east and west cultures, to be more specific, different mode of thinking and dealing with emotions. Chinese people tend to think in a more compromising way while the American are inclined to pay more attention to sense of individualism no matter what it’ll cost. Jiazhen is the very example of a mixture of two cultures.
Simon Popovic Com/Lit 02/14/13 In her essay Fish Cheeks, Amy tan invites over the minister's son, whom she is in love with, and his family. Amy Tan's family makes all of Amy's favorite traditional Chinese food, but she gets completely embarrassed once the minister and his family arrive. I have also been embarassed by my families' Albanian traditions. Albanian parents tend to be overly strict. My father has basically had me on a leash since the day I was born.
However, when he plays China, who is well above his skill level, in his grandma’s ping-pong dojo, and loses, his true nature comes out to be maladaptive. After China “skunks” him, Peco is an emotional wreck, crying on the train ride with Smile (13.31). Eventually his sole focus on winning causes him to become so frustrated with the game that he quits the team. But with the help of his grandma, who establishes a harsh, yet task-oriented climate for training (1.05.57), he is able to get back to his true skill level. Under her instruction, Peco becomes even better than he was before and is able
Amy Tan and Maya Angelou Compare and Contrast Essay Authors Amy Tan and Maya Angelou both show their feelings in personal narratives “ Champion of the World “ and “Fish Cheeks”. In the story “Fish Cheeks” it describes a young American Asian girl who invites her crush over for a traditional Asian Christmas Eve dinner. Her grandparents embarrass her by eating fast and eating sloppy. Her mom makes an embarrassing comment and tells it to the whole table. At the end of the story she finds out later in her life that the dinner helped her and the comment her mom made to her helped her later on in life.