Mothers And Daughters In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

In the novel “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan, Tan depicts several different conflicts between four different Chinese mothers and their daughters. Each mother and daughter pair has their own separate stories and through these conflicts in each story, there are different life lessons that can be learned from. The first lesson comes from the mother An-mei Hsu, and her daughter Rose Hsu Jordan which teaches one to become confident and strong. The second lesson is from Jing-Mei Woo, also known as June Woo, and her mother Suyuan Woo. They teach that one should not compare oneself to others, and to always remember that having the best quality heart is the most important. The last lesson also comes from Jing-Mei and her mother, but also from Waverly Jong and her mother Lindo Jong. The two mother and daughter pairs teach the lesson that miscommunication between people will result into conflict. From the novel “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan, one can learn how to be confident, not to compare oneself to others, have the best quality heart, and to have better …show more content…
For example, Rose’s husband, Ted, wanted to have a divorce, and Rose was about to quietly give in. Then, Rose’s mother, An-mei, told her to be more confident: “‘I am not telling you to save your marriage,’ she protested. ‘I only say you should speak up’” (Tan 216). As shown, An-mei does not want her daughter to save her marriage, but for her daughter to be confident in herself. After hearing An-mei’s words, Rose stood up for herself when Ted came to their house to sign the divorce papers: “Now I felt nothing, no fear, no anger. ‘I say I’m staying, and my lawyer will too, once we serve you the papers,’ I said” (Tan 219). With the help of An-mei, Rose learned to stand up for herself, to be strong and confident. All in all, Tan uses Rose’s and An-mei’s story to show that one can learn to stand up for oneself, and to be a strong person who has