Comparing Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mom And The Joy Luck Club
The maternal instinct is a gift that every mother has. But the need to protect their children is also an excuse to control them. Mother-daughter relationships are a bond of trust between parent and child. When children have nightmares, their mother comforts them. But when the mother is the nightmare, they have no comfort. The topics are excerpts, one is from Amy Chua’s memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom and the other is from Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club are about mother-daughter relationships. The authors wrote about their own memories. Chua is about being the mother of two daughters and Tan is about being the daughter of two Chinese immigrant parents. In Amy Chua’s excerpt “The Violin”, Chua is retelling a memory of her and her daughter,
Lulu, at Lulu’s violin practice. Her tone throughout the excerpt is frustrated as she tries to help Lulu with her violin and repeat what her violin teacher, Mr. Shugart, says at the lessons. Chua tires to enforce Mr. Shugart’s points about being relaxed throughout the lesson, but Lulu is always “edgy” and “irritable” around her mother as she criticizes Lulu’s posture and ability to play the piano. Chua’s irony when she talks to Lulu matches her tone of frustration, “RELAX!” I screamed” (Chua 47-48). Even though Lulu is as annoyed as her mother is she still cares as she says “mommy” instead of “mom” or “mother”, which proves that their relationship is caring, but hard to understand and connect with each other. In the excerpt “Jing-Mei Woo: Two Kinds”, Amy Tan is recalling a memory of when she was growing up with her mother who wanted her to be something that she was not. As Tan did not want to play the piano, her mother tried to force her to do something that she wanted nothing to do with. Relating to the title of the excerpt, Tan’s mother would tell her that she would be an obedient daughter out of the two kinds and do what her mother told her to do, “Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!” (Tan 141-142). Both Tan and her mother’s tones are dark, both screaming and yelling at one another throughout the excerpt. Tan’s dark tone contrasts to her diction of wishing she were not her mother’s daughter and how she wished her mother was not her mother. Tan recalls that she never regrets saying any of the stuff that she said, even when she pushed her mother over the edge, “I wish I were dead! Like them [the babies]!” (Tan 141-142), that she was just a “small brown leaf, thin, brittle, lifeless” (Tan 141-142). Everything between them throughout the excerpt proves that their relationship is bitter, as they are always fighting, because Tan’s mom is forcing Tan to be something that she is not. The maternal instinct is supposed to be comforting to children, but not when the mother is the force that causes fear for their child. Both excerpts showed that the mother was the cause of fear in their daughters. In Chua’s excerpt, Chua still had a caring relationship with her daughter, even though it was frustrating at times. But Tan’s relationship with her mother was dark and intense as they fought with each other and screamed terrible things at the other. Their relationship was forced and dark. The authors described their mother-daughter relationships with different tones, irony, and diction. The contrast between the two excerpts were focused on the tones more than anything, as the tones contrasted with the diction and irony in the excerpts.
Lulu, at Lulu’s violin practice. Her tone throughout the excerpt is frustrated as she tries to help Lulu with her violin and repeat what her violin teacher, Mr. Shugart, says at the lessons. Chua tires to enforce Mr. Shugart’s points about being relaxed throughout the lesson, but Lulu is always “edgy” and “irritable” around her mother as she criticizes Lulu’s posture and ability to play the piano. Chua’s irony when she talks to Lulu matches her tone of frustration, “RELAX!” I screamed” (Chua 47-48). Even though Lulu is as annoyed as her mother is she still cares as she says “mommy” instead of “mom” or “mother”, which proves that their relationship is caring, but hard to understand and connect with each other. In the excerpt “Jing-Mei Woo: Two Kinds”, Amy Tan is recalling a memory of when she was growing up with her mother who wanted her to be something that she was not. As Tan did not want to play the piano, her mother tried to force her to do something that she wanted nothing to do with. Relating to the title of the excerpt, Tan’s mother would tell her that she would be an obedient daughter out of the two kinds and do what her mother told her to do, “Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!” (Tan 141-142). Both Tan and her mother’s tones are dark, both screaming and yelling at one another throughout the excerpt. Tan’s dark tone contrasts to her diction of wishing she were not her mother’s daughter and how she wished her mother was not her mother. Tan recalls that she never regrets saying any of the stuff that she said, even when she pushed her mother over the edge, “I wish I were dead! Like them [the babies]!” (Tan 141-142), that she was just a “small brown leaf, thin, brittle, lifeless” (Tan 141-142). Everything between them throughout the excerpt proves that their relationship is bitter, as they are always fighting, because Tan’s mom is forcing Tan to be something that she is not. The maternal instinct is supposed to be comforting to children, but not when the mother is the force that causes fear for their child. Both excerpts showed that the mother was the cause of fear in their daughters. In Chua’s excerpt, Chua still had a caring relationship with her daughter, even though it was frustrating at times. But Tan’s relationship with her mother was dark and intense as they fought with each other and screamed terrible things at the other. Their relationship was forced and dark. The authors described their mother-daughter relationships with different tones, irony, and diction. The contrast between the two excerpts were focused on the tones more than anything, as the tones contrasted with the diction and irony in the excerpts.