The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan showcases the disconnections between mother and daughters, particularly those of immigrants. In the book Mothers and Daughters: Complicated Connections Across Cultures, Alice H. Deakins, Rebecca Bryant Lockridge, and Helen M. Sterk make the argument that all women share one experience in common, being a daughter (90). While that argument is true, it is a little more complicated, each daughter goes through different experiences than others, as shown in The Joy Luck Club (Tan). Each mother went through many different experiences than their daughters. These different experiences are what create the rift between the immigrant generation and the first generation. Kruzykowski states that culture is the foundation for
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Lindo Jong is kinder and gentler than Waverly, she focuses more on a person’s successes than their flaws. When Waverly was a young child, she learned how to play chess. After winning many tournaments her mother began to brag and take the accomplishments of her daughter as her own (Tan 89-101). When Waverly was six, she and her mother bonded through the learning and teaching of the art of invisible strength, “a strategy for winning arguments, respect from others, and eventually, though neither of us knew it at the time, chess games” (Tan 89). Waverly used this art as a commonality with her mother, bringing them closer; however, there became more disconnection when Waverly tried to use the art of invisible strength against her mother. She realized that her mother, the strongest wind, “could not be seen” and “pondered her next move” (Tan 100-101). This expectation to win drove the mother-daughter relationship through a time of hardship. This lesson of the art of invisible strength was used to fracture the relationship. Lindo’s expectations are still stuck in another culture. Kruzykowski explains that when a family migrates to another country “its members live in two separate cultures: their ethnic-heritage culture prior to migration, and the new culture of the society in which they currently reside” (12). Lindo expects Waverly to win every chess tournament with “proper Chinese humility saying is luck” (Tan 96). These differences in character and disconnections caused the mother-daughter relationship to be
Lindo Jong is kinder and gentler than Waverly, she focuses more on a person’s successes than their flaws. When Waverly was a young child, she learned how to play chess. After winning many tournaments her mother began to brag and take the accomplishments of her daughter as her own (Tan 89-101). When Waverly was six, she and her mother bonded through the learning and teaching of the art of invisible strength, “a strategy for winning arguments, respect from others, and eventually, though neither of us knew it at the time, chess games” (Tan 89). Waverly used this art as a commonality with her mother, bringing them closer; however, there became more disconnection when Waverly tried to use the art of invisible strength against her mother. She realized that her mother, the strongest wind, “could not be seen” and “pondered her next move” (Tan 100-101). This expectation to win drove the mother-daughter relationship through a time of hardship. This lesson of the art of invisible strength was used to fracture the relationship. Lindo’s expectations are still stuck in another culture. Kruzykowski explains that when a family migrates to another country “its members live in two separate cultures: their ethnic-heritage culture prior to migration, and the new culture of the society in which they currently reside” (12). Lindo expects Waverly to win every chess tournament with “proper Chinese humility saying is luck” (Tan 96). These differences in character and disconnections caused the mother-daughter relationship to be