Joy Luck Club
...these relationships, already very fragile, become distanced through heritage, history and expectations. These differences cause reoccurring clashes between two specific mother-daughter bonds. The first relationship exists between Waverly Jong and her mother, Lindo. Lindo tries to instill Chinese qualities in her daughter while Waverly refuses to recognize her heritage and concentrates on American culture. The second bond is that of Jing-Mei Woo and her mother, Suyuan. In the beginning of the book Jing-Mei speaks of confusion in her recently deceased mother's actions. The language and cultural barrier presented between Jing-Mei and Suyuan is strong enough to cause constant separation and misunderstanding.
The first and most important conflict in the novel is heritage. Both mothers, Suyuan and Lindo, come from a Chinese background and try to instill their knowledge and strengths into their children. However, their children are being raised in America with new ideals and a powerful freedom that both mothers never experienced. The two contrasting cultures present a scenario in which both influences cause great confusion and separation in relationships.
"How can she thing she can blend in? Only her skin and her hair are Chinese. Inside—she is all American-made. It's my fault she is this way. I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix?" (288).
Lindo Jong faces her difficulty of getting her children to understand her Chinese heritage in the face of pressing American principles. Lindo's main difficulty is that through her daughter's chess abilities she wishes to teach her the Chinese "invisible strength." However, Lindo's pride and claiming of Waverly's abilities leads to a strong misunderstanding between Waverly and Lindo that causes Waverly to quit chess. "'Why do...
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