Amy Tan Vs. Amy Chua

What similarities and differences do you notice between Amy Chua’s relationship with her kids and the mother-daughter relationships we see in “The Twenty-Six Malignant Gate”?

In the Twenty Six Malignant Gate, we see that each daughter in the four chapters were rebellious against their mother because they felt oppressed. It is similar to Amy Chua’s article, “tiger Mom’ because both of the stories explain about a mother who tells her daughter to do this and do that and that it will benefit them in the future. The daughter will end up rebelling and then a fight begins. In the fight, the daughter will be stubborn to see things from another view, and just view it one sided while the mother secretly knew everything. Then the daughter realizes something and made up with her mother.

In “Four Directions”, Waverly Jong talked about how when she was a ten year old prodigy, her mother would brag and tell Waverly what to do with chess although she didn’t really know the basics of it. Waverly got angry at her mother because she “hated the way she [mother] tried to take all the credit,” Tan 170). A fight started in the streets where Waverly told her mother that she did not know anything and then ran. When she went back home, her mother began to ignore her and then when they are back on normal terms, her mother did not stay by her side when she practiced and did not brag nor dust the trophies. With time, Waverly, “understand finally. Not what she had said. But what had been true all along,” (Tan 183). Their fight allowed Waverly to discover something about herself.

In “Tiger Mom” Amy Chua had a similar fight with her youngest daughter. Her daughter was not able to play this one piece in the piano because her two hands cannot play a different tempo at the same time. Amy Chua continued to force her daughter to practice hard until she gets it right:

“Finally, the day before her lesson, Lulu announced in exasperation that she was giving up and stomped off.
Get back to the piano now," I ordered“You can’t make me.”“Oh yes, I can.”Back at the piano, Lulu made me pay. She punched, thrashed and kicked. She grabbed the music score and tore it to shreds,” (Amy Chua).

The fight ended with Lulu discovering that she was able to play the piece and found out that she have the potential to play it, just that she needs to work a little harder.

Joy Luck Club: Introduction

Question: What is Amy Tan’s purpose behind the introduction to the second section? What thematic elements, characterization, or plot foreshadowing connect it to the stories that follow, particularly “Rules of the Game” and “Voice from the War”?

            In “The Joy Luck Club”, Amy Tan’s purpose behind the introduction to the second section foreshadows the bond between mothers and daughter. The introduction talks about a mother telling her daughter to listen to her and to stay near her. The mother feared for the daughter’s safety if she is out of her sight. The daughter didn’t listen because she wanted to ride her bike but the mother refused. Even after being told about the Twenty-six Malignant Gates, the daughter still refuses to listen. She rode her bike to the corner, but before even reaching the corner, the daughter is injured.

            This is the theme of the stories that are in the second section. In “Rules of the Game”, Waverly Jong was a chess prodigy who gained fame at a young age. Her mother stood by her side proudly however during their grocery shopping, Waverly told her mother that she is embarrassed. The argument went to the point where Waverly ran and ran:

“I ducked into another dark alley, down another street, up another alley. I ran until it hurt and I realized I had nowhere to go, that I was not running from anything. The alleys contained no escape routes,”(Tan 100).

This relates to the introduction at the beginning of the section because the daughter had an argument with her mother and in the end, the daughter ran. this story of Waverly Jong demonstrates how the mother gave an advice to her daughter, but the daughter, rebelliously disobeys and in the end, an argument erupt from the mother and daughter.

Moreover, “The Voice from the Wall”, also connects to the introduction at the second section. Lena St. Clair told the story and how she had this imagination of what happened to her neighbor next door. One day, however, the neighbor, Teresa, went to her house. She told Lena:

“We had this fight and she pushed me out the door and locked it. So now she thinks I’m going to wait outside the door until I’m sorry enough to apologize. But I’m not going to,”(Tan 114).

This story also ties in with the introduction because it is also about a mother and a daughter arguing with each other about something.