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Error In Translation In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

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Error in Translation When people of different cultures and languages come together, certain aspects of one’s actions may be misconstrued simply due to the barriers that cultures provide. In Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club,” this idea is delved into further with four families consisting of Chinese mothers and American daughters as the focal point. Throughout the novel, the daughters misinterpret the actions and words of their mothers simply because they were raised very differently in terms of culture and language, among others.
The first story told is about Jing-Mei Woo and her memories of her departed mother, Suyuan. In them, Jing-Mei (often referred to as June) talks about the issues she faced with her mother, saying “I can never remember things I didn’t understand in the first place.” (Tan 19) The most common problem addressed was her perception of her mother’s persistence on her success in a field, which to her seemed very pushy. She did not realize what Suyuan …show more content…

The concept is similar, with the mother pushing the daughter very hard to succeed, with the latter demonizing the former as a result. Lindo left her life as an arranged wife to a wealthy (albeit not the nicest) family on her move to America, and like Suyuan she only wanted the best for her child. However, Waverly’s talents were realized early in comparison to June, so rather than have a story of a mother pressuring her child to try new things we have one of a mother pushing her daughter towards what she excels at (in Waverly’s case, this would be chess.) Waverly took this very differently from the intended message, and saw Lindo living vicariously through her, showing off her daughter to passerby like a trophy that she had worked on. Lindo did not know anything about chess, so while Waverly saw this as an insult to her talents and more as bragging rights for her mother, in actuality Lindo was just very excited and proud of her

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This quote from the text stands out to me because it shows that Waverly’s mom cares more about herself than her community. Every Saturday, Waverly and her mom would go to the market. Not to purchase anything, but for Waverly’s mom to show off her daughter who became a national chess champion. Instead of focusing on how her family felt about Waverly’s sudden success and helping them cope with Waverly’s busy schedule, the mother chose to flaunt Waverly and boast about her accomplishments.

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Tan expresses the life experiences of Chinese immigrants to the United States and attempts to depict the relationship of a mother and daughter through her significant piece of writing ‘The Joy Club’. Therefore, all these authors somehow portrayed their early struggles and their view point towards life from their literary

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June, however, struggled to please her mother in all she did, and never felt as if she had any worth. Their relationship becomes distant due to miscommunications. Asian culture and expectations weigh heavily on Suyuan’s mind as she worries about the path her daughter takes, one that is untraditional and looked down upon. June finally understands her mother, after it is too late. Secrets and traditions can either tear apart or build up a relationship.

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This disagreement quickly became a source of resentment and anger for both of them, but Jing-Mei and her mother were unable to resolve this conflict because of their different backgrounds and experiences. The story showcases how relationships between mothers and daughters can be strained because of differences in culture and a lack of communication. One of the difficulties between Jing-Mei and her mother is their different cultural backgrounds, which is supported by two points from the story. Firstly, Jing-Mei and her mother both disagreed on the opportunities that existed in America. According to Singer, Amy Tan uses “two entirely

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As discussed in the previous chapter, cultural and language barrier have caused serious obstacles for the mothers and daughters. Not being able to see and think from each other’s perspective blocks the path to effective communication which result in silence between them. The focus of this chapter is to analysis in details of Jing-mei’s change after her mother’s death and her trip to China to meet her lost sisters, which symbolizes that her split identity is healed and her relationship with her mother is reconciled as well. The mother-daughter relationships between the other mothers and daughters in The Joy Luck Club will also be studied When Jing-mei is young, she is the same as the other three daughters - an outsider of their mothers’ world. She laughs at her mother’s “fractured English” and she “[grows] impatient” when her mother speaks Chinese (40).

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Her motive in the story is the motivation of all mothers, which is to see their child succeed in life. It affects the story based on the fact that even though she and her daughter are in a disagreement, she still loves her and wants her to be great at chess. Mrs. Lindo showcases all of Waverly's trophies and hangs a sign saying, "Congratulations, Waverly Jong, Chinatown Chess Champion" in the bakery below

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The daughters are “ignorant,...unmindful of all the truths and hopes” that their mothers have brought to America. Complaining about the way their mothers are not able to understand much about the new culture they are living in, the daughters dismiss their traditional Chinese ways as “stupid,” letting the mothers think there will be no hope for the Chinese traditions to be “passed from generation to generation.” There is an indirect collision between the mothers’ generation and the generations in the future; Suyuan Woo and her friends will no longer have an effect and be valued by those generations. Daughter Rose Hsu Jordan also comes across conflicts with her husband’s Ted Jordan’s mother before the couple gets married. Ted mother’s explained to Rose that “he needed to concentrate on his medical studies before he could even think about

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In her writing, Tan often describes her experiences as the child of Chinese immigrants, growing up in northern California and living in American culture. Tan explains how she has learned to embrace the many Englishes her mother speaks and how her background has also caused her to have different Englishes. While others classify her mother's English as "broken" she finds no fault in it. In Tan's view, just because something is broken does not necessarily mean that it is in need of fixing. In her essay, author Amy Tan addresses the connections between languages and cultures in describing the different Englishes her mother uses.

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Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club is an amazing representation of what Chinese immigrants and their families face. The broad spectrum of the mothers’ and daughters’ stories all connect back to a couple of constantly recurring patterns. These patterns are used to show that how the mothers and daughters were so differently raised affected their relationships with each other, for better and for worse. To begin with, the ever-present pattern of disconnect between the two groups of women is used to show how drastically differently they were raised.

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Waverly Jong becomes an amazing chess player who opens up many opportunities for her and her mother. In reality, Waverly just wants to be the girl her mother is proud of. However, Waverly now thinks that her mother is now using her. For instance Waverly's mother would make her go to the market when they didn't have a chess tournament. Her mother would walk with her proudly and say, ¨this is my daughter Wave-ly

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Waverly’s mother, Mrs. Jong, is overly proud of her daughter’s status as a national chess champion. She boasts about this title whenever she can and cares about her daughter’s success rather than her feelings. She stifles her daughter’s voice in these matters, but Waverly later grows to have her own voice in her family. In “Rules of the Game,” Tan portrays Waverly as a strong, independent child by the way she works with what she has to be the best she can be, tricks her mother, and stands up for herself at the end of the story.

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The difference in language leads to miscommunication but the overlying consequence of it is lack of understanding and empathy for one another which leads to conflict. “Language takes on a metonymic relation to culture in Tan's portrayal of the gap between the mothers and daughters in The Joy Luck Club.” (Hamilton). The language barriers between the daughters and the mothers create the cultural barriers. Language barriers emphasize and directly influences cultural barriers.

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In The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan, we are introduced to Suyuan and her daughter Jing-Mei “June” Woo. As with any relationship, there is conflict between Suyuan Woo and her daughter, as it seems that Jing-Mei doesn’t understand her mother’s Chinese culture and ambitions. In the Chinese culture, women are seen as inferior and often lack basic rights such as the right to marriage or financial holdings, thus deprived of their potential. This is why the rights in the U.S. are seen as privileges to Chinese women, among other minorities, and why Suyuan endeavored for her daughter to become a prodigy and excel in anything and everything. Yet as Jing-Mei was forced into this ideal, and the more her mother tried to enforce this idea, the further she begun to despise her mother for attempting to turn her into a “fraud”.

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Jing Mei, while portrayed as an obedient child, is only willing to listen to her mother to a certain extent. Throughout the story, it is consistently hinted that Jing Mei would eventually explode against her mother as an attempt to free herself from her mother’s chains. In addition, after the fiasco at the piano recital, she eventually derives further from her mother’s wishes as she “didn 't get straight A...didn 't become class president...didn 't get into Stanford...dropped out of college.” (54). On the flip side, Jing Mei’s mother is a stereotypical Chinese parent who is fully determined to ensure her daughter’s success in a new environment.

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In the words of Jing-Mei in the last line of the story, “Together we look like our mother. Her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish” (Tan 159). Throughout her life, Suyuan, their mother, held onto the hope that she would see her daughters again. In this hope, she named Jing-Mei in connection to her sisters, keeping the “long-cherished wish” that someday her daughters would reconcile and complete their family circle. The occasion that

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