Double-talk in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club:
Length: 504 words (1.8 pages)
Rating: Red (FREE)
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Double-talk in Joy Luck Club
As Amy Tan explores the complexity of the relationships between first and second generation mothers and daughters, one realizes that with these Chinese families there is so much to figure out, so much guessing involved, because the basis of all communication lies within the stories told from one generation to the next. The stories are intended to instill fear, happiness, a sense of who one is, and much more. The mothers depend on this as a way to tell their daughters all about life, yet these daughters are Americanized to such a degree that this form of communication may not always be completely effective. A Chinese mother will say listen, follow, don't ask questions it is rude -- you do not need to understand. This may not have been so difficult when both mother and daughter were Chinese born and bread, but it is a real challenge for this set of cross cultural pairings. Frustration on both sides builds to a boiling point as each finds the other's methods either useless or impossible. One generation has so much faith in the stories and the other has so little understanding. The section called American Translation sums it up nicely, the stories can be lost or worse misconstrued in the interpretation of this new American generation.
"[N]ow I must tell her everything about my past. It is the only way to penetrate her skin and pull her to where she can be saved."(274) Ying-Ying realizes the need to share all her stories with her daughter before she dies so Lena can gain strength from the stories and from her spirit. The stories are so rich, and although the mother shares her stories, the translation is up for grabs. One distinct advantage to the story telling method of giving advice is that it allows these mothers to say much more than their counterparts in America. While difficult topics are often avoided in America, these Chinese mothers rarely avoid anything and almost always have a story to tell.
When Lena and her husband Harold can not break the neurotic cycle of splitting the bills to the extent that it is destroying their lives together, the mother does her best to save their marriage. She breaks the table and vase on purpose to get their attention, and during her conversation with Lena, although it seems as if they are discussing the broken objects, Ying-Ying is talking about their marriage. Asking her daughter, "Then why don't you stop it?"(181) when referring to a failing marriage is the kind of thing that most Americans would think was stepping over the boundaries of the relationship. Where as within the framework of discussing the broken table and vase, this mother can get away with this and more. This kind of double talk is common, and as out of touch as the daughters seem to find their mothers at first, it is apparent by the end most realize that there is something in the stories their mothers have to tell.
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