Mother Daughter Relationships In Amy Tan's Characters

A mother daughter relationship is a fragile thing. There is so much stuff that can block their connection. Some examples of these blocks are age, culture, and history. Most mother daughter relationships are either very tight or barely there. There are few that are in between. That is because if they can get over the many differences in their way, they tend to have a very close relationship. Most people are not willing to only go halfway. They either go all the way or they cannot get over at all. Amy Tan shows these various challenges and how they can be overcome through the stinted relationships of her novel's characters. Rose and An-mei Hsu are just one example of stinted mother daughter relationships in the novel. An-mei wants her daughter Rose to be able to stand up for herself but Rose is scared to make a decision. Rose does not see her mother as trying to protect her, she sees her advice as trying to save her marriage when An-mei is just trying to save Rose. An-Mei is a very intuitive person. She has been she was very young as it says in the book. "And so, while everything seemed peaceful, I …show more content…
She had no one around. She began to fall into a dark place. When Ted called her and admitted to his cheating, she realized she was not the person with Ted but that she was somebody in her own right. He made his choice and it prompted her to finally make one of her own. She chose to be happy. Just like her mother did during the war with her Joy Luck Club. As she became her own person, she finally started to realize what her mother was trying to say to her. She did not have to be scared anymore. When Ted sees his old garden, he comments that it is a mess but Rose likes it the way it is. The garden, especially the weeds, are a symbol for her growth. She, like the garden, is not perfect but she does not have to be. When she learns to accept herself, she learns to accept her mother as