Similarites

A month ago, I wrote a blog about Amy Chua and her article titled "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior". I also wrote blogs about a book called "The Joy Luck Club".

When I read Amy Chua's article and some of the stories of Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club", I can see some of the similarities between the two. In Amy Chua's article, she talks about what Chinese mothers go through supposed to "Western mothers". She explains why Chinese mothers are strict while Western parents are more relaxed when it comes to their children.

What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences

From that, Chinese parents are very strict and have something Western parents don't.

In Joy Luck Club, there is a section called "The Twenty-Six Malignant Games"where mother and daughter relationships are mainly targeted. The story I chose to write about was the first one" Rules of the Game". Rules of the Game is about a young girl named Waverly Jong who decides to like the game of chess. Her mother sees this and wants her daughter to become a child prodigy. When Waverly does, mother Lindo pressures her to succeed and not fail.

If I lost, I would bring shame on my family, 'Is shame you fall down, nobody push you', said my mother.

To Waverly, it is just a game and fun to play. However, Lindo does not see this and wishes that she doesn't fail or else her family does not accept her. This is similar to Amy Chua's perspective and how she talks about the situation she had with her daughter in the article. In the article, her daughter decides not to play piano anymore which Chua gets angry about. She wishes her daughter would continue and not give up. The way Chua and Lindo handle the situation is harsh as well. At the end of Rules of Game, Lindo disowns Waverly becuase she gave up being a prodigy. In Chua's article, she barely fed Lulu (the daughter) and called her cowardly, lazy, and pathetic. She is only seven years old!

Both mothers are very strict towards their young daughters, which relates to why Chua says that Chinese mothers are superior.

Intro of Twenty Six Malignant Gates

Amy Tan's purpose behind writing the intro on pg. 87 for section 2 (Twenty Six Malignnat Gates) was to write about what the theme of the section of the book. Basically what happens in the intro is that the daughter does not listen to the mother because she seems like she is speaking nonsense. The daughter does not listen to the mother and goes for what she believes and fails at the end. In Rules of the Game, the young girl is in love with the game of chess. Waverly Jong's mother Lindo started to brag about her daughter's playing, which embarassed Waverly and made her upset at her mother. Lindo then tells Waverly that "if she is not concerned for her family, then her family is not concerned for her." This relates to what Amy Tan was illustrating in her intro. The mother eventually gives up on her daughter and leaves the young daughter feeling sad and that she failed.

In the Voice of the Wall, it is more feeling sad than anything else. Lena feels bad after her motherYing Ying fnds herself crazy and the fact that she lost her baby. The intro relates because it is sort of in reverse. Lena is not the one who is hardheaded and really fails. she is sad about the misfortune her mother goes through. However, Ying Ying starts to have psychological problems and Lena starts to have some too. Then, Lena realizes that she may not be crazy but the rest of the story is left hangign like the intro.

Tan may be doing this for all the intros- to get a main idea of what the stories in the section may be about.