How Does Jing Mei Convince Her Mother In The Joy Luck Club

In the novel The Joy Luck Club, Jing-mei believes that her mother, Suyuan, expects her to be a successful prodigy and do well in anything she does. Jing-mei feels that she has failed her mother by not achieving success in many areas throughout her life and blames Suyuan for her high expectations. Perceiving to have disappointed her mother, Jing-mei loses belief in herself while in reality, Suyuan still held high hopes for her and only wants Jing-mei to try her best. Therefore, Jing-mei’s future stemmed from her own expectations to a large extent. As seen in the chapter “Two Kinds”, Jing-mei dreams big about being a prodigy at the beginning. Erroneously, she feels that success is like a happy ending to a fairy tale, a perfect resolution which the protagonist no longer has to work for. Jing-mei imagines herself as a “dainty ballerina girl”, a “Christ child” and “Cinderella”, all fantastic stories. She feels that becoming a prodigy will happen …show more content…
Jing-mei starts to believe that she could never become successful, thinking “I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not.” Thus, during piano lessons, Jing-mei wilfully decides to put in little effort. Mr Chong was unable to see Jing-mei’s mistakes and when she hit the wrong notes, she never corrected herself. Although Jing-mei is aware of these mistakes, she does not put in any effort to improve. Jing-mei laments, “I never really gave myself a fair chance.” Therefore, her failure at the talent show is a result of her laziness and resistance to try harder in playing the piano, not Suyuan’s high expectations. She was “so determined not to try” that her embarrassment at the talent show becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It was her own unwillingness to work hard, as well as her immature belief that success will come naturally, that resulted in this