Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mother Analysis

Amy Chua’s best selling memoir called, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, has created major controversy and debates among two different cultures- Eastern and Western. Amy Chua opens up by telling the reader that it is about a mother, two daughters, and two dogs, and how this book was “supposed to be a story about how Chinese parents are better at raising kids than Western ones”, but instead, it’s about a bitter clash of cultures, a fleeting taste of glory, and how she “was humbled by a thirteen year old” (Chua, ii) who is her daughter, Lulu. She explains about what a Chinese “Tiger” Mother actually is and what the typical Asian parenting rules are. It states that her daughters were never allowed to: “attend sleepovers, have playdates, be in a

This method of parenting is very close to dictatorships in the past or to oppressive parties, in how they impose their will upon others. This book may have been a last ditch attempt to resurrect the hands on, suffocating, coercive, and never ending demands style of parenting that some Chinese parents (not all) have done at some point in time” (Psychology Today, Gray). This source also give evidence on statistics on the Chinese American reviewers that they were two-fold more likely to strongly dislike or dislike the book than were other reviewers. 1 star: 40.5% vs. 20.9%, 2 stars: 11.9% vs. 5.8%, 3 stars: 2.4% vs. 11.7%, 4 stars: 9.5% vs. 15.0%, 5 stars: 35.7% vs. 46.6%. Polarized reactions to the book are reflected in these data, for both the Chinese and non-Chinese reviewers. In both groups, most people gave the book either 1 star or 5; few felt lukewarm about it. However, the Chinese group gave the book more 1-star reviews than 5-star reviews, while the non-Chinese group gave the book more than twice as many 5-star reviews as 1-star reviews (Psychology Today, Gray). This book has given so many controversies and many people have responded to this book in multifarious ways. But why was it that Westerners hated this way of parenting

“That certain groups do much better in America than others—as measured by income, occupational status, test scores, and so on- is difficult to talk about,” they write. “In large part this is because the topic feels racially charged” (news.nationalpost.com, Boesveld). Some of the reviews by people who were products of "Tiger" parenting, or who witnessed its effects in others said, "Having been the product of such parenting and as a ‘failure' by these ‘Chinese' standards, I have much to say. ... This method of parenting is very close to dictatorships in the past or to oppressive parties, in how they impose their will upon others. This book may have been a last ditch attempt to resurrect the hands on, suffocating, coercive, and never ending demands style of parenting that some Chinese parents (not all) have done at some point in time. The biggest problem is that most kids need to explore and understand for themselves what is truly important in their lives. Not every child will grow being a happy professor, doctor, and lawyer and then go to their parents and say, ‘Thanks mom and dad for driving me so hard to achieve these