Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Character Analysis

Love and hate is what drives a mother-daughter relationship. Many mothers want what is best for their daughters, but many times it is not seen the same way through the daughter's eyes. Amy Chua’s 2010 memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom and Amy Tan’s 1989 novel The Joy Luck Club recall their experiences of their own mother-daughter relationship. Amy Chua is narrating experiences she recalls having with her daughter learning to play the piano using a tone that is very tense, but she is only wanting the best for her daughter, Lulu. Amy Tan narrates experiences she, as the daughter, has with her mother trying to get her to play the piano. Even though it is against Tan’s wishes to play the piano her mother has a harsh and bitter tone that selfishly forces Tan to play the piano. In the excerpt “The Violin” by Amy Chua, the mother, Amy Chua, is trying to force her daughter, Lulu, to learn the violin. Lulu’s instructor tells her that she must be relaxed, ironically Chua tries to enforce what Lulu’s instructor emphasized in class at home, but Chua screams “RELAX!” when the meaning of the word “relax” is opposite of how it is spoken by Chua (Chua 47-48). Chua has good intentions for Lulu, but the way she is trying and forcing her daughter to …show more content…
The tone of the excerpt begins very harshly with Amy Tan screaming “No! I won’t!” to her mother (Tan 141-142). Tan does this while her mother “yanks” her off the floor and dragging Tan to the piano, once she got to the piano she was sobbing and giving her mother a cold look (Tan 141-142). While Tan’s mother’s chest is heaving from the struggle to the piano she shouted to Tan that only “obedient daughter[s]” can live in her house (Tan 141-142). Amy Tan’s tone is harsh and her mother is portrayed as bitter and selfish due to her demands for Tan to play the piano even though it is against her wishes and what she wants to