Mothers And Daughters And An-Mei Relationship

“I knew it was my mother even though I had not seen her in all my memory”(Tan, 1988, p.44). This quote from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan shows how An-mei’s mother emotionally distanced herself from her and was not a large part of her life. However, the families such as this one in the stories are defined by blood. That is where this starts, as An-mei picked up a lot of characteristics from her apathetic mother, which is why their relationship is the way it is. Within Amy Tan’s cherished story of the Joy luck club which goes into the life stories of each member of the club, the central theme is family and it focuses specifically on the bond between mothers and daughters. Tan repetitively uses the stories about mothers and daughters to portray

Popo said to An-mei in the vignette “scar” of the Joy luck club, “Even your mother has used up tears and left. If you do not get well soon, she will forget you”(Tan,1988, p.47). This quote shows how her mother is known to be someone who does not show a lot of emotions because it is saying how it's rare that her mother will shed a tear. It also conveys how her mother doesn't hold onto her past and does not get attached to anything, even her own daughter. To summarize another quote that An-mei’s aunt revealed in the same vignette, An-mei’s aunt lost her temper and told An-mei that her mother had run off to be with a man named Wu Tsing and she was going to be his fourth wife. This says a lot about the values of An-mei’s mother because she doesn't value family as strongly as a lot of the other characters in the Joy Luck club do. This leads to An-mei and her mother having a unique relationship since her mother is a very flighty person who doesn't have morals when it comes to family, which leads her family to be displeased with her. In fact, Popo stated in the very same vignette “scar” that An-mei’s mother was referred to as a “ghost these days”(Tan, 1988). This meant that it was forbidden to talk about An-mei’s mother. Overall, the relationship between An-mei and her mother is very different from the relationships that other characters have with

This is clearly disclosed in the vignette “Magpies” by a quote from An-mei herself; “I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other people’s misery, to eat my own bitterness”(Tan, 1988, p.215). This proclaims how her mother has had an impact on her even though she wasn't around much to raise her daughter. An-mei probably looked up to her mother a lot which is why her mother was able to have such a great effect on her as far as morals. She influenced An-mei so strongly that An-mei was referring to those same morals when her daughter Rose was going through marriage trouble. An-mei feels that Rose should assert herself in the situation instead of doing nothing and feeling sorry for herself. To summarize the quote that describes the lesson that An-mei’s mother learned and is still relevant to An-mei, it is useless to cry, for tears only feed someone else's joy. This goes to show that even though An-mei’s mother wasn't around a whole lot, she definitely had an effect on An-mei’s personality and