Like Mother Like Daughter
By Caro Hanson
The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates
Mother knows best. The mother in the parable is arguing with her daughter about riding her bike around the corner and how she is going to fall. When the daughter, "ran outside, jumped on her bicycle, and in her hurry to get away, she fell before she even reached the corner" (Tan 87).
Waverly and Lindo Jong
If I had the chance to read another mother/daughter pair, I would want to read Jong. Jong seems the most interesting to me because of the way the mother and daughter interact. I also like the way the mother goes throughout her life sneaking around. It's almost like the opposite lifestyle I would want but would still like to read and "experience" it so that I can be grateful for the life my parents have given me.
The Elements
"To much fire and you had a bad temper.that was like my father whom my mother always criticized fro his cigarette habit and who always shouted back that she could keep her thoughts to herself... Too little wood and you bent too quickly to listen to other people's ideas, unable to stand your own. This was like my Auntie An-Mei... Too much water and you flowed in too many directions" (Tan 31). This quote sums up life. The elements make up an individual and everyone needs to find a happy medium. Personally I have too much fire and am working towards finding a balance in life and this quote perfectly describes me and that is why it is my favorite.
Family with an ily (I love you) at the end
In Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan presents the idea that family can build an individual's character because of the relationships between family members. Each daughter throughout the book had a unique but different relationship with their mothers. From the perspective of the mothers, a mother must provide the daughters with her own strengths and weaknesses through love, respect, and traditional Chinese traditions. For the majority of the book the daughters spend most of their life trying to live up to the expectations of their mothers and learning to be more like them. For example, "A friend once told me that my mother and I were alike, that we had the same wispy hand gestures, the same girlish laugh and a sideways look. When I shyly told my mother this, she seemed insulted and said, 'You don't even know little percent of me! How can you be me?'" Jing mei's character is carefully knitted together by the way of her mother, but her mother doesn't seem to realize it (Tan 37). The mothers shape their daughter characters by the relationships they build with one another.