Comparison Of Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mom And The Joy Luck Club

A mother-daughter relationship is one of the most fragile relationships to exist. By saying or doing one thing, the relationship between a mother and her daughter can be changed forever. Chinese-American writers Amy Chua, in Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom, and Amy Tan, in The Joy Luck Club, both portray mother-daughter relationships where the mother just wants her daughter to succeed. Although the mothers want the same outcome, they have different methods of achieving them. While both writers are expressing a relationship between a mother and a daughter where the mother simply wants what is best, Amy Chua’s relationship with her daughter is stressful yet caring, proved by an irritable and calm tone, but Amy Tan’s relationship with her mother

Tan’s mother wants her daughter to succeed at playing the piano, and her way of enforcing it was by yanking Tan by the arm and pulling her to the piano. Tan had no option because her mother expected her to be an obedient daughter who does not rebel by the freedom of her mind. Amy Tan’s mother had predetermined her daughter’s attitude and personality without giving her any option, “You want me to be something that I’m not! I sobbed,” and Tan did not appreciate this of her mother (141-142). Her reaction to not being able to freely express her own mind was saying hurtful things to her mother, “Then I wish I weren’t your daughter, I wish you weren’t my mother, I shouted” (Tan 141-142). Tan was aware that once these things were said, they could not be taken back, but she was not done yet. Amy Tan wanted her mother to know that she did not want to be the obedient daughter her mother yearned for her to be. She wanted to see her mother’s anger explode, so she resurfaced the incident no one ever spoke of. Tan brought up the babies who had died, and said, “I wish I were dead! Like them” (Tan 141-142). At this moment, Tan and her mother’s relationship had become hateful and hostile because of the things that were said, by both, the mother and the daughter. The hurtful comments were all caused by

Chua portrays a stressful yet caring relationship, while Tan portrays a more hostile relationship. Chua yearns for her daughter to succeed at playing the violin, and she attempts to progress the process by being caring and also stressful at the same time. Similarly, Tan’s mother wants her daughter to succeed at playing the piano, but her way of progressing the process is by being strict and enforcing rules. Although both mothers hope for similar outcomes for their daughters, they have different ways to help their daughters reach the outcome. Every mother desires the best for her daughter, as an individual, and for their fragile relationship, as a