In the chapter, Jing Mei states, “ The test got harder- multiplying numbers in my head… predicting daily temperatures in Los Angeles, NY, and London... , After seeing my mother’s face once again, something inside me began to die. I hated the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations,” ( Tan, 134 ). Jing Mei’s many failed expectations caused her to lose her confidence in becoming a prodigy and she never once tried at it again. Jing Mei and her mother had different views on expecting the high expectations because her mother wanted her to try harder, but Jing Mei gave up. After Jing Mei’s argument with her mother a few years back, her mother buys her a piano for her thirteenth birthday. “ No,this is your piano,” “ Always your piano.…
(Prompt 3) People run around like well-oiled machines. Their brains compute the actions they take, and their bodies follow the courses they chart. What happens, though, when there’s a glitch in the system? How can we stand firm against what’s inside our own minds and hearts? My mother taught me how to be strong, just as An-Mei Hsu’s mother does in The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.…
In return of the pain that she felt because of her mother, Jing-mei wishes to be nothing like her. As a result of this, she refuses to accept her family’s history. Jing-mei begins to accept herself and her background near the end of the novel. “I looked at my reflection, blinking so I could see more clearly. The girl staring back at me was angry, powerful.…
Beauty is important to all of the daughters and their mothers. Superstition factors into their everyday lives controlling their behaviors and thoughts. Stepping in her mother’s footprints, Jing-Mei is following high standards with the lack of experience she displays. Jing-Mei is still viewed as a child although she is in her mid thirties.…
As folks of Jing-Mei, the mother and the father assume entirely unexpected parts. Jing-Mei's mom is forceful and is a model of customary Chinese moms who are strict with their kids. She imagines that she has control over residential circle so she controls her little girl. The essayist needs to make space for folks to ponder whether they had ever done these things on their kids. The part that folks ought to play is to guide, not to…
"In fact, in the beginning, I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so" (223). Her mother believes in the American Dream and passes this hope to her daughter stating "you can be prodigy, too… you can be best anything" (222). Jing-Mei tries her best to live up to her mother's dreams for her to become a prodigy. When her haircut ends up looking less like Shirley Temple and more like Peter Pan, she is optimistic about the end results anyhow stating "I liked the haircut and it made me actually look forward to my future fame" (223). Being that they are from an Asian background, it is not uncommon for Jing to want to please and abide by her mother's dreams for her.…
Jing-mei broke her mother’s dreams by saying she was not going to be a child prodigy but they were able to get over it and Jing-mei is happy being…
Jing-Mei (June) Woo, is trying to complete the tests set up by her mother. She is amused by them in the beginning, but later on begins to dislike them thoroughly. Eventually, she begins to think that her mother wants her to be a genius like many other children in magazines…
The reader is able to see this story though Jing-mei's eyes. This point-of-view helps the reader see her actions and feelings in a more personal way, rather then a third person presentation. One can actually understand the internal conflict more clearly. She lets her true identity poke through when she says, "I am in China, I remind myself. And somehow the crowds don't bother me.…
The author tries to meet her mother’s expectations at first. She decides not to respond to her attempt of finding her prodigy after seeing her mother being disappointed with her poor performance at her piano recital (Tan, 391). There is a moment where she has a shouting match between her and her mother when she cries out “Why don’t you like me the way I am? (…)” and it is implied that she doesn’t feel that her mother likes her (Tan, 389). It very well could be that she has a very deep fear in her subconscious that her mother will not like her unless she is a child prodigy.…
What are some of the main causes of tension between family members? Are the causes related to societal expectations, cultural expectations, or personal pride? Or maybe it is a combination of all of these causes? How these external and internal conflicts can affect the relationship among family members is noticeable in the short stories, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and “The Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan. In both, “Harrison Bergeron,” and “The Rules of the Game,” the impact of these struggles can be seen between the relationships of the parents and their children; Harrison’s parents, in “Harrison Bergeron,” show indifference towards how societal beliefs affect their son while Mrs. Jong, in “Rules of the Game,” favors cultural expectations…
Generations are like advancing technology. They continuously evolve and build upon themselves. As generations rise and fall, their history follows and unfolds for the next generation. This then gives birth to character, the synthesis of human genetics and growth of unique personality through life experiences. Generations and character are both prominent themes in the novel, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.…
Lena is not a complete diametrical mirror of her mother. Both have numerous similarities but also where the environment around them has been changing. Although this may be true, it is their differences of perspective, their views from different shores, that make it difficult to understand each other. However, we can see how Ying-Ying St.Clair and Lena help each other to solve their own psychological problems. To begin with, both Lena and Ying-Ying St.Clair share the same need to appear acceptable for other people.…
In the story “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan tries to distinguish the difference between two different cultures as a child. She is raised by her mother who speaks “broken” English, and the outside world where perfect English is spoken. Amy had a hard time as a child because of the different Englishes that were spoken. Tan as an adult continues to find the difference between the languages that are spoken, even though she knows that the one spoken by her mother will never improve. Tan’s attitude towards mother tongue starts as being embarrassed and ashamed, because Mother Tongue was the only type of English that her mother could speak.…
[The ability to look through Jing-mei’s eyes gave us the sense that, yes she was having a hard time with her mother but in the end she realized what her mother was trying to…