Amy Tan Communication Analysis

Amy Tan focuses on how communication is extremely important in any types of relationships such as mother and daughter, spouses, and children. She shows us how we need to speak up and say how we really feel unless there will be misinterpretations that will damage our relationships with our loved ones. In the beginning of the book we see that Ruth has found her mother's manuscript a and is very hesitant to read it but decides to anyway. As Ruth reads it throughout her day we notice that Amy Tan uses Ruth silence as a symbol of power for Ruth. When she isn't talking people tend to take her more seriously furthermore, it also helped her connect with precious auntie like in page 127 "What if there really was a ghost names Precious Auntie? Most …show more content…
As we read this part Ruth and Luling lack of communication began when Ruth was just a teenager. Both of them never seemed to want to talk to each other about their problems and Ruth refused to go to her mother for help when she needed it since her mother constantly put her down even though she didn't mean to. Therefore, this affects Ruth as she grows older for example Ruth refuses to talk to her husband about how she believes she's pregnant, "Lance didn’t love her. If she told him, he would hate her". If Ruth knew how to talk about her issues and problems she would be able to explain to him how she felt about this. We also find out that Precious Auntie wrote Luling a letter explaining that she was her mother but Luling was angry at the time with Precious Auntie and decided not to read it which Precious Auntie assumed she hated her in the story she states "Don’t you have feelings for who I am and I remember exactly what I said to her; Even if the whole Chang Family were murders and thieves, I would join them just to get away from you." this particular lack of communication resolved in Precious Auntie taking her own life. This woman never learned how to communicate and has affected them in a lot of ways. The cultural differences are prominent throughout the story and have also been a factor in their horrible relationship. Ruth considered herself 100% American while Luling has been living in America for 45 years and never properly learned English, had a conservative Chinese heritage that embarrassed Ruth as a young child. As Ruth became a teen she used her cultural beliefs to her advantage and gain control in the relationship for example Ruth used her mother’s beliefs in ghosts to watch the Wizard Of Oz Ruth says "Well precious auntie thinks I should watch it" and fooled her mother into believing that precious auntie was