Mother/Daughter Comparison: Lindo and Waverly Jong Mother and daughter, Lindo and Waverly Jong of Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club,” have greatly differing perspectives and outlooks on many situations. The pair have greatly different background stories and ultimately points of view especially in terms of marriage and in their values. Lindo Jong having experienced a traumatic arranged marriage in her early adulthood and being very critical in nature, she does not seemingly approve of Waverly’s fiancé. This can be interpreted as the mother only wishing the best for her daughter, however Waverly only sees her criticism as a way to just get under her skin and as being generally overly-critical. When finally Waverly finally confronts Lindo, Lindo asks
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Where Lindo was just expressing her thoughts as blunt as they were, Waverly’s initial reaction was to only take offense, personally by her comments. Another differing view from them can be displayed in their values. Lindo does not care for or understand luxury items such as the Mink coat that Waverly received from her fiancé, as well as the French wine he had brought to the dinner. Waverly finds great pleasure in these and is very much appreciative, however in “Four Directions” she touches on how these were the kinds of things her “parents could not appreciate. [Her] parents did not even own wine glasses” (Tan 177-178). Where Waverly has come to enjoy these things, she knows her mother does not given her customary, cultural, and traditional ways. Additionally, when Waverly and her fiancé are preparing to leave for their honeymoon to China, she tells her mother how she wishes she would blend in after she her mother tells her that the people would easily be able to tell she is American due to her appearance and how she carries herself. In this moment, Lindo wonders had she not raised Waverly with such heavy American influence, if she would have actually been happy or if it was just …show more content…
The mother and daughter struggle to be direct and straight-forward with each other on many things and both tend to be very stubborn. For instance, in the vignette, “Rules of the Game,” as Waverly’s prowess in chess grows, she assumes that her mother brags about her everywhere they go for her own pride. On a trip to the market with her mother, Waverly snaps and calls this boasting embarrassing and Lindo asks “‘embarrass you be my daughter?’” Her voice cracking with anger” (Tan 99). Waverly runs off and there is great tension between Lindo and Waverly and they avoid each other, refusing to talk out their issues and misunderstanding. The story is continues in the vignette, “Four Directions” whereafter not speaking with each other, Waverly decides to hold off to resume playing in chess tournaments to get her mother’s attention. To her surprise, her mother does not beg her to continue playing and they continue to avoid one another rather than resolving their issue. Lindo’s interpretation of her daughter’s embarrassment of her boastfulness was that she was ashamed of being her daughter and thus treated her like she was invisible. Likewise, Waverly assumed that her mother was only showing her off to people as a way of boosting her own self-regards and to steal the spotlight from her without giving
Where Lindo was just expressing her thoughts as blunt as they were, Waverly’s initial reaction was to only take offense, personally by her comments. Another differing view from them can be displayed in their values. Lindo does not care for or understand luxury items such as the Mink coat that Waverly received from her fiancé, as well as the French wine he had brought to the dinner. Waverly finds great pleasure in these and is very much appreciative, however in “Four Directions” she touches on how these were the kinds of things her “parents could not appreciate. [Her] parents did not even own wine glasses” (Tan 177-178). Where Waverly has come to enjoy these things, she knows her mother does not given her customary, cultural, and traditional ways. Additionally, when Waverly and her fiancé are preparing to leave for their honeymoon to China, she tells her mother how she wishes she would blend in after she her mother tells her that the people would easily be able to tell she is American due to her appearance and how she carries herself. In this moment, Lindo wonders had she not raised Waverly with such heavy American influence, if she would have actually been happy or if it was just …show more content…
The mother and daughter struggle to be direct and straight-forward with each other on many things and both tend to be very stubborn. For instance, in the vignette, “Rules of the Game,” as Waverly’s prowess in chess grows, she assumes that her mother brags about her everywhere they go for her own pride. On a trip to the market with her mother, Waverly snaps and calls this boasting embarrassing and Lindo asks “‘embarrass you be my daughter?’” Her voice cracking with anger” (Tan 99). Waverly runs off and there is great tension between Lindo and Waverly and they avoid each other, refusing to talk out their issues and misunderstanding. The story is continues in the vignette, “Four Directions” whereafter not speaking with each other, Waverly decides to hold off to resume playing in chess tournaments to get her mother’s attention. To her surprise, her mother does not beg her to continue playing and they continue to avoid one another rather than resolving their issue. Lindo’s interpretation of her daughter’s embarrassment of her boastfulness was that she was ashamed of being her daughter and thus treated her like she was invisible. Likewise, Waverly assumed that her mother was only showing her off to people as a way of boosting her own self-regards and to steal the spotlight from her without giving