Things Fall Apart And Joy Luck Club

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In an attempt to portray the complexities of merging old traditions with modern lifestyles, Amy Tan and Chinua Achebe formed novels that depict how parent-child relationships are influenced by different cultures. Though they are presented under different circumstances, The Joy Luck Club and Things Fall Apart portray parent child relationships, the effect of outside influences, cultural differences, and generational gaps. Naturally parents strive to provide what is best for their children which includes, watching over them, giving them proper guidance, and going great lengths to ensure that their future will be better than their own. This motive is shown in The Joy Luck Club in the opening parable, “Feathers from a Thousand Li Away.” A woman who is emigrating to America from Shanghai, dreams that she will raise a daughter who will not only “exceed all hopes,” but unlike her mother she will be “judged according to her own worth not by that of a husband” (TAN) It is also shown in Things Fall Apart when Okonkwo is speaking to his son Nwoye, warning him that, “No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man” (ACHEBE, 45) Okonkwo was referring to his father who he resents for not being the man that he desperately needed as a child. As a result of being raised by that type of parenting, Okonkwo’s “whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness.” He is now doing everything in his power to make sure that his son, Nwoye, will not follow after his grandfather’s habits hoping that his son will learn good work ethic and respect for his culture. In Tan’s novel, the mothers refused to let their daughters struggle like they did in the past. Even though one novel addresses mother-daughter relationships, and the other, father-son relationships, both parent genders

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