Mothers And Daughters example essay topic

The Book Report of! ^0 The Joy Luck Club! +/-! ^0 The Joy Luck Club! +/- is a book of describing the relationships between the Chinese mothers and their American- born daughters. In this book, it explores the different attitudes of two generations with different backgrounds and experiences towards respect, love and marriage.

Also it reveals the difference of culture and tradition crossing the both sides of the Pacific. It was published by Ivy Book, New York, 1989, written by Amy Tan, who is also a Chinese- American, who was born in Oakland, California in 1952 and grew up in the San Francisco bay area. Amy Tan has a very keen insight on the trifles happen in the Chinese-American families and most of her works are based on this topic. In this book The Joy Luck Club, it has eight main characters, four mothers (Suyuan Woo, An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong and Ying-ying St. Clair) and 4 daughters (Jing-mei! ^0 June! +/- Woo, Rose Hsu Jordan, Waverly Jong and Lena St. Clair).

These mothers all left China to America before 1949 when China was still a very old feudal society. Women had no rights, no social status and no respect at that time in China. Women had to follow the willingness of their parents at any case, such as their marriage. They did not have the right to choose their own husbands, which should be decided by their parents. In the chapter named The Red Candle of The Joy Luck Club, it described how Lindo Jong!'s husband was decided by her parents when she was only two-years old. Well, when they got married, Chinese women must follow the orders of their husbands and their parents-in-law.

The lucky one would have a husband who treated her like a person and the unlucky one would had a husband who treated her just like a dog, even worse. Each of the mothers of this book The Joy Luck Club had a very painful history. Therefore, when they stepped on the free land, America, they had lots of expectations to a new life and they gave their best wishes to their dearest daughter. They hoped that everything they could not gain in China their daughter could own in America. So, in the beginning of the book, Suyuan Woo made her promise to herself that! ^0 In America I will have a daughter just like me.

But over there nobody will say her worth is measured by the loudness of her husband!'s belch. Over there nobody will look down on her, because I will make her speak only perfect American English. And over there she will always be too full to swallow and sorrow!! +/- (P 3) Unfortunately, their American-born daughters could not understand their mothers! ideas. They were born in a very wealthy and open-minded country and they took everything for granted.

They evaluated their mothers in their American-style way of thinking. They refused to speak Chinese and they even teased their mothers! English speaking. They despised the culture and traditions from their ancestors, however, no matter how hard they wanted, they still could not turn these heritages of China all away because they still had yellow skin and black hair just like the other Chinese. They argued with their parents all the time and they thought their mothers! advices were all out-of-date and worthless, but sometimes in the deep of their hearts, they had to accept their mothers had a more profound understanding to the life. The Joy Luck Club is composed of four parts, and each one had four chapters.

In the first and last parts, it separately described the stories of these mothers! history life in China and their perspectives when they were in America, while, in the second and the third parts, it mainly talked about these daughters! experiences of their growing-up and how their mothers affected them in their education, marriage, career and family. With a very good connection, the book unravels the stories of every character progressively, which are very vivid and real. When I read this book, my mood followed the tides of the stories up and down. They give me a very deep touching.

I remember in the chapter named! ^0 Scar! +/-, it told the story of An-Mei Hsu when she was a kid watched her mother how to honor her grandmother.! ^0 My mother took her flesh and put it in the soup. She cooked magic in the ancient tradition to try to cure her mother this one last time.

She opened Popo (grandma)!'s mouth, already too tight from trying to keep her spirit in. She fed her this soup, but the night Popo flew away with her illness. Even though I was young, I could see the pain of the flesh and the worth of the pain. This is how a daughter honors her mother. It is! ^0 shou! +/- so deep it is in your bone.

The pain of the flesh is nothing. The pain you must forget. Because sometimes that is the only way to remember what is in your bones. You must peel off your skin, and that of your mother, and her mother before her. Until there is nothing. No scar, no skin, no flesh.!

+/- (P 41) This word! ^0 shou! +/- simply can be understood as! ^0 respecting the parents! +/-, but in a more deep level, I think that it means the younger generation should sacrifice themselves to repay their parents no matter it is the flesh, the blood or others, because it is your parents who give you the most important thing, your life. The characters! creation of The Joy Luck Club is incredible. I really like Lindo Jong, a very smart woman, who found a good way to escape from her arranged marriage without breaking up her promise to her mother and without bringing a shame on her family. She was a very strong woman with the merits of diligence, braveness and endurance.

Also, I can feel the deep pain of Jing-mei Woo who thought herself would never meet the standards of her parents! expectations and she thought her mother never understand her and love you... There was an argument between Jing-mei Woo and her mother that expressed her pain clearly.! ^0! ^0 You want me to be someone that I! m not!!

+/- I sobbed.! ^0 I will never be the kind of daughter you want me to be!! +/-! ^0 Only two kinds of daughters, ! +/- she shouted in Chinese.!

^0 Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!! +/-! ^0 Then I wish I wasn! t your daughter. I wish you weren! t my mother.!

+/-! +/- I really sympathize Jing-mei Woo, who had the best personality among the 4 daughters. In The Joy Luck Club, these Chinese mothers put too much pressure on their daughters! growing, even though which all came from love. They wanted their children to go the roads they paved for them because they thought it would be most beneficial. They hoped their children could be developed into the best they could be. The love and the expectations of them brought their children a lot of pain.

I thought the author Amy Tan wrote truly about those mothers! and daughters! inner-thinking. I can imagine though those mothers were living at the land of America, they still kept parts of their old, feudal and conservative ideas with them. It was what they learned when they were young and they could not just throw them away. Although quarrels and small conflicts between mothers and daughters were almost everywhere in this book, but the ending of the story was satisfactory. Daughters and mothers both learned to understand each other. Jing-mei Woo, the daughter of Suyuan Woo, brought her mother!'s last unfinished wish with her to China to visit her twin sisters and she would talk with them all the things she knew about their mother.

Also, she would try to understand the place where her root was. In my opinion, the author, Amy Tan wrote this story to reflect her strong feeling as being a American-born Chinese, who was not totally an American and also was not a Chinese, who was educated from both-sides. She tried to tell us that as a Chinese-American you may be Americanized, but you should still have a deep respect for the Chinese culture of your ancestors..