The Joy Luck Club By Amy Tan

In Chinese culture the relationship between a mother and a daughter sets a foundation for the daughters actions and ways they make it through life. In the novel, four mothers tell the stories of major events that have affected them and their daughters, who are all first generation Americans. The mothers each have their own unique experiences with their own mother which is reflected in the way they mother their own daughters. Each story a mother has different values and cultural beliefs that are important to them. In the novel The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan the quality of each mother-daughter relationship is illustrated by the daughters’ behaviors and beliefs which can be seen in the way they parent their own children, their feelings and action

By the time Jing-mei had grown up she still had yet to find her calling and had just dropped out of college. Her mother did not approve and suggested that she should try again so in order to avoid an argument Jing-mei agreed, leading Suyuan to tell the mothers her daughter was in school causing confusion, “My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated each other's meanings and I seemed to hear less than what was said, while my mother heard more.” (Tan 27). Jing-mei’s mothers had always wanted Jing-mei to be a prodigy at something so that she was able to brag about her to the mothers like they did about their children. Jing-mei tried all but nothing stuck with her which did not please her mother, she wanted something to brag about. This created tension between Jing-mei and her mother. All of the mothers want their children to be successful in life for their own good but also so that they have reason to brag to the other mother in a competition in whose daughter is better. A mother is supposed to raise her daughter in a way that will lead her to success in the future, but if a mother fails to meet this expectation a daughter will grow apart from her mother in order to succeed on her own. Again with Ying-ying always wanted to protect Lena to help guide her to success but Lena does not always follow, “I think this to myself even though I love my daughter. She and I have shared the same body. There is a part of her mind that is part of mine. But when she was born, she sprang from me like a slippery fish, and has been swimming away ever since. All her life, I have watched her as though from another shore” (Tan, 274). Lena’s mother Ying-ying wanted her to be safe and comforted forever, when finding a spouse Lena ended up stuck somewhere she didn’t realize. Ying-ying