What Is The Mother's Relationship In The Joy Luck Club

Overview of the Movie: The Joy Luck club centers on four, middle-aged, Chinese immigrants, Suyuan Woo, An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-ying St. Clair. Although the relationships that exist between each of the four women are important, it is the exploration into each woman’s relationship with her first generation daughter that is central to the plot line. Through this exploration, the generational and cultural gaps that exist between the each of the women and their daughters are exposed; allowing several interesting connections to course material to be made. The use of shifting perspectives throughout the film allows the barriers that exist between the two generations’ cultural values to be explored; while the mothers are deeply rooted in their Chinese heritage and the values, norms, expectations, etc. of that culture, their daughters have more westernized worldviews. However, although conflict does unfold due to the differences that exist between each mother/daughter pair, a strong bond is present in each relationship. This undeniable bond is seen through loving actions
throughout the film; despite the conflict caused by the cultural differences, it is clear that each pair truly loves each other. For this movie reflection, I will highlight some of the moments I believe illustrate the unique dynamic that exists between each mother/daughter pair, due to the cultural difference that exist between the two generations, best. Following Dreams: The way that success is defined based on a person’s cultural beliefs leads to an interesting exploration into two different perspectives on the “American Dream”.
It is obvious that each mother wants the best for her daughter and views a life in America as a way to provide her daughter with opportunities for success. However, the mothers tend to view success in a more concrete way than the daughters due. This perspective of the American Dream is reflective China’s culture, which is more collectivist in nature; each mother wants her daughter to find success through a stable life where she can support a family. Meanwhile, each daughter wants to both explore what the world has to offer and the freedom to pursue any dream. The perspective of the American Dream seen in each of the daughters is more westernized; in western culture an emphasis is placed on the individual’s
happiness. Names:
One of the daughters, Jing-mei Woo, has taken on the American name, June, representing the influence of American culture in her life. In fact, all of the daughters have westernized names (Rose, Lena and Waverly). I believe the Westernized names seen in the daughters helps to illustrate some of the difficulty they face as they attempt to integrate main stream American culture into the Chinese culture of their families.

Respect with Age: Although June, Rose, Lena and Waverly all have moments where they rebel against their mother’s cultural values or try to distance themselves from Chinese culture in the film, each daughter shows a greater interest in integrating their Chinese heritage into their own identity as they enter into adulthood. For example, Waverly becomes angry when her mother tells her she would be recognized as a tourist in China; although Waverly disagreed with some of her mother’s opinions, based in her cultural beliefs, as she entered into adulthood Waverly valued her Chinese heritage greatly.