Second-generation immigrant struggle to develop this identity because the temptations of assimilation overpower the need to preserve cultural heritage. They credit the formation of their individuality to their western culture, when in fact, it is through their parents they gain a sense of self. This is portrayed in Amy Tan’s, The Joy Luck Club, a multi-perspective novel that encompasses the use of storytelling to demonstrate the relationships between four immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters. Through Jing-Mei’s perceptive character, the conflict she experiences with her mother’s ideals, and the use of simile and symbolism, Tan suggests that maternal love guides an individual to finding their identity.
Jing-Mei is an individual prone to dismiss her oriental heritage to gain acceptance from the surrounding western culture. However, her perceptive nature enables her to realize the ethnic identity maternal love can evoke. June’s trip to meet her half-sisters in China is essentially guided by her mother’s dying wish, but soon becomes a discovery of her bicultural self. When June hugs her half-sisters, she
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These stories are vital to the characters’ development for they “cultivate both positive mother-daughter relationships and individual identities of strength because the foundational stories allow the women ‘glimmers of understanding’ about themselves and their relationships within a larger social context” (Wood, 85). Through storytelling, mothers are able to pass down life lessons encompassed in the painful events of their past that demonstrate strength and endurance amidst turmoil. Rather then direct advice or warnings that can be easily forgotten, these stories aim to build emotional connections that motivate daughters to learn from the mistakes of their mothers and take the initiative to reconstruct their