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The Joy Luck Club By Amy Tan

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In today's society, it's often that parents and their children struggle to understand each other. There are many different reasons why parents have miscommunications with their children. In Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club, she writes about a chinese mother that tries to make her chinese-american daughter successful. Suyan and Jing-Mei lack communication because of the cultural difference between the two, so it leads to conflict between the two about many things that aren't important to Jing-Mei, but it is to Suyan. Suyan and Jing-Mei have grown up in two totally different settings. Suyan was raised to always achieve high expectations and accomplish goals that not many kids were able to achieve. Suyan, being a Chinese mother, tries to push those expectations on Jing-Mei in America, so Jing-Mei has different views on it than her mother. On page 131, Suyan says, “Of course you can be prodigy too”...”you can be best anything.” This shows that Suyan was raised to believe that she can do anything and tries to push it on Jing-Mei, but she takes it the wrong way. Jing-Mei says, “... I was filled with a sense that I would soon be perfect. My mother and father would adore me”(Tan 143). Her saying this …show more content…

Since Jing-Mei was raised in a different culture than her mom, it made her more lazy and less confident. After her mom tries to get her to do stuff she isn't interested in, she snaps and says, “Why don't you like me the way I am? I’m not a genius! And even if I could, I wouldn't go on TV if you paid me a million dollars”(Tan 146)? She knows that her mom is going to show off her piano skills, so she doesn't try to learn to prove to her mom that she can't force her to do stuff. “...I also learned I could be lazy and get away with mistakes,..”(Tan 148). This shows that from her experiences she has lived in a different culture than her mom which made her raised to be negative and lazy over anything she

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With the mother pushing her this much it makes her very strict. She doesn’t really give Jing a choice. This also made Jing feel like her mother didn’t like her the way she was. “’Why don’t you like me the way I am?’ I cried.

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Her intentions are not meant for heartbreaks, but for the well-being of her babies. Support Point # 2- Suyuan’s top priority is to educate Jing-mei as ideal daughter; however, high expectations are difficult to achieve causing problems and leading bitterness into the relationship. Support Point

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In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, mother and daughter relationships are put to the test. Four women meet to play a game of Chinese mahjong, keeping a tradition alive. Suyuan Woo, founder of the club, had a daughter named Jing Mei June Woo. Suyuan had two daughters which she expected both to succeed to her standards.

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Both her and her mom want her to be a prodigy of Beyonce. Both of their parents want them to become a prodigy of somebody. Jing-Mei’s mom wants her to be a prodigy of Shirley Temple. One other allusion in “Two Kinds” and modern day society is Peter Pan. Peter Pan never wants to grow up and neither does Jing-Mei.

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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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“After losing everything in China…She never looked back with regret. ”(Chunk 1 ¶3). Jing-Mei’s mother is a Chinese immigrant with the typical ‘everything is better in America’ mindset. Jing-Mei, being raised in America, had more of an American mindset. “You want me to be someone i’m not…I’ll never be the daughter you want me to be!”

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Regardless, her mother still is persistent on Jing Mei becoming a prodigy, despite her passionless performance and her family’s negative reaction. In return, Jing Mei becomes angry at her mother, and will do anything to change her mind. Screaming, “I wish I were dead! Like them.”, her mother freezes, disappointed in her daughter, and quits Jing Mei’s piano classes. On Page 28-29, Jing Mei’s perspective on the world becomes more apparent: “For unlike my mother, I didn’t believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me.”

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One dynamic that false expectation strains is the relationship between Suyuan and her daughter Jing-Mei. In a vignette told from the perspective of the latter, Suyuan has the notion that Jing-Mei should be able to perform something at the level of a prodigy. She begins

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Throughout the story, Jing-mei’s feeling toward her mother change in critical ways. As a young child, Jing-mei wants constant attention from her mother, going so far as agreeing to become a child prodigy. In the story, Jing-mei commented, “In fact, in the beginning, I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so” (Tan 221). This was before her mother becomes highly adamant about wanting her child to become a prodigy. As time went on, she wanted Jing-mei to become the epitome of a child star.

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Even Senators and Presidents put their personal feuds above what they believe is right. After WWI, President Woodrow Wilson went to Paris to create the Treaty of Versailles, which included the League of Nations. The Treaty needed two thirds vote of the Senate to vote in favor to be ratified. America had an isolationist past and the Senate was divided into the internationalists, led by Wilson, who were in favor of the League of Nations as proposed, the reservationists, led by Senator Lodge, who wanted a treaty of some type but wanted some changes, and the irreconcilables, led by Senator Borah, who were completely opposed to the Treaty and wanted to remain isolated. Even though the Senate refused to work towards a compromise, it was Wilson’s fault the Treaty was not ratified

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Her mother eventually forgives her for what she said in their argument and offers to send her the piano as a birthday gift. After her mother's death, Jing-mei accepts the piano. While looking through her mother's things, Jing-mei finds sheet music of the song she practiced for a talent show when she was a child. She sits down at the piano and plays the song, realizing that it wasn't as difficult as she perceived it to be when she was young. She then realizes that the two sheets of music, titled "Pleading Child" and "Perfectly Contented," are two halves of the same song.

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1026 Words | 5 Pages

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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Key Selection Criteria – Rebecca Damm 1. Qualifications (tertiary degree) in Project Management, Natural Resource Management, Water, and/ or another related discipline and at least three years demonstrated relevant experience or at least seven years demonstrated relevant experience. I have over 13 years’ experience in Project Management including Natural Resource Management and Land and Water Management such as river restoration. My qualifications include Training in Project Management, Bachelor of Applied Science [Parks, Recreation and Heritage], a Graduate Certificate in River Health Management, Media Training – How to write Media Releases, Community Engagement Training, IAP2 Training and other relevant training.

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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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477 Words | 2 Pages

“For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me.” (Tan 24). With this statement you can see that she does not agree with her mother. Jing-Mei’s Mother was raised in Chinese culture, therefore she is very strict and demanding to Jing-Mei to do what she wants. From doing a chore, to hobbies or even Jing-Mei’s passion.

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