Mother-Daughter Communication in Amy Tans The Joy Luck...

Mother-Daughter Communication in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club Of the many stories involving the many characters of The Joy Luck Club, I believe the central theme connecting them all is the inability of the mothers and their daughters to communicate effectively. The mothers all have stories of past struggles and hard times yet do not believe their daughters truly appreciate this fact. The mothers of the story all want their daughters to never have to go through the struggles they themselves had to go through, yet they are disappointed when their daughters grow up and do not exhibit the respect or strength of their mothers. This is the ironic paradox of the story. The Chinese mothers came to the United†¦show more content†¦In short, they wanted their daughters to avoid the sorrow and tribulations they had themselves experienced in life. If this was the only thing they wished for their daughters, it would not be difficult to achieve. Unfortunately, the wishes of the mothers had a catch to it. That catch was that they wanted their daughters to exhibit the wisdom, strength, and respect that they themselves possessed. Unfortunately, this is the paradox or catch-22 of the story. The Chinese mothers wanted the daughters to never experience the pain they had experienced themselves. But to gain the enormous strength and wisdom of life they wanted the daughters to have, the daughters would have to go through the same trials and tribulations that their mothers had. For how could you expect a child to have the same strength and wisdom about life if that child did not experience the same amount of struggle and pain? The Chinese mothers in effect wanted it both ways. They wanted their daughters to become American in many ways but yet retain some important Chinese traits. Unfortunately, their children became more American than they had wished. This is also best exemplified by the short story before the main one begins. It reads, Now the woman was old. And she had a daughter who grew up speaking only English and swallowing more Coca-Cola than sorrow. For a long time now the woman had wanted to give her the single swanShow MoreRelatedAmy Tans Short Story Analysis986 Words   |  4 Pagespages of the book so far. A great deal of information is available about Amy Tan’s personal and professional lives. Perhaps this is because her writing is clearly so overlaid with biography and autobiography. It might also be because her stories have so touched the hearts of her readers. And it might be because her enormous literary popularity coincides with the tremendous growth of the internet as a means of instant communication. Information about her seems to have popped up daily on many differentRead MoreAmy Tan Overcoming Faulty Relationships and Self Identity Essay1514 Words   |  7 PagesAmy Tan struggled with many issues caused by her dual cultures, which she expressed thoroughly in her works. 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