Next time you will listen to your mother!

I read this book several weeks ago, and it got me thinking. This is a very interesting piece of literature. I could not put it down for a second. It shows both the American experience in the eyes of immigrants and a mother-daughter relationship in shambles.

In the novel, The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, the characters Suyuan and Jing-Mei Woo have a mother-daughter relationship confused with scattered conflict, but ultimately composed of deep love and commitment for one another. Because of dras tic differences in the environments in which they were raised and in their life experiences, these two women have some opposing ideas and beliefs. This, and their lack of communication are responsible for many of the problems they face in their relationsh ip. These conflicts are only resolved when June learns about her mother’s past. The way that their relationship develops, and the conflicts June and Suyuan face, reveal some of the themes that Amy Tan intends for the readers to learn. These themes concern such topics as finding our life’s importance, making choices, and understanding ourselves and our families.

Most of the conflicts that June and her mother face are based on misunderstandings and negligence concerning each other’s feelings and beliefs. June does not understand or even fully know her mother because she does not know about her tragic past and t he pain she still feels from the memory of it. Because Suyuan lost two daughters in China, and her entire family was killed in the war, she leaves this place behind her and places all of her hopes in America and
her family there. She wants the very best f or her daughter June. Even her name, Suyuan, meaning "long-cherished wish," speaks of this hope for Jing-Mei, meaning "the pure, essential, best quality younger sister." Suyuan tells her daughter June that she can be anything she wants to be, and that she has great talent. At first June is excited and dreams about what she will become: "In all my imaginings, I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect. My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the n eed to sulk for anything." (p. 143) Suyuan pushes June to be successful in many different areas such as dance, academics, trivia, and piano.

The stories of Suyuan and Jing-Mei Woo reveal some of Amy Tan’s main themes in the novel. One important theme is that we must get to know and
understand our parents in order to fully understand ourselves. June spends the first half of her life believin g that she is a disappointment to her mother and has been unsuccessful in life. However, when she learns more about her mother’s past and discovers that her mother is proud of her good heart and concern for others, she realizes that she has accomplished s omething by doing small things to the best of her ability. She learns that one does not have to be famous, or a genius, or greatly wealthy in order to be successful. Another important theme is that we need to make our own choices in life and find our own life’s importance. When June was a child, her mother was constantly pushing her to try different things that she had no interest in. Because she did not care about any of these things, she did not really try to be successful, and therefore, would never ac complish anything great. We build our own importance in life by deeply caring about something that we choose and putting all of our effort into developing or accomplishing this.

If you like this long explanation of the novel's themes, then you will definitely fall in love with the book.