Mother-daughter Relationships

The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen Gods Wife

a critical essay examining the identity crisis present in Chinese- merican daughters and their mothers !cultural healing" that unites #ast and West$ old and ne%

in Amy Tans novels

Vivian A. Lee
A" #nglish $V 2nd %i&'ling

Nov. 6th, 2

senior pro(e&t 2

Mother-daughter Relationships in The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God&s Wife
The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen Gods Wife, both novels written by Amy Tan, display the hardships that Chinese mothers face with their second-generation American daughters. Using short anecdotes and prose filled with cultural description, Tan reveals the differences among five mother-and-daughter pairs while at the same time revealing their similar deep wishes and connections a desire to understand and to be understood, despite the generation gap that separates their mindsets, and to ta!e their e"periences and ma!e a better future while still holding on to the wisdom of the past. #n the case of these novels, Tan focuses on the different cultural patterns of $astern and %estern thin!ing, but in a broader sense, she also suggests the importance of creating an identity that will lin! the best of both worlds no matter what ethnicity or time. &oth of these novels are written in the first person, allowing the reader greater depth into the characters' minds to e"amine and develop empathy with each ()hen*. The Joy Luck Club, Tan+s first novel written in ,-.- in her mother+s dedication, chronicles the lives of four mothers and their daughters. Although the novel is bro!en up into ,/ short stories, the central theme of cultural roots and differences unifies the plot. $ven though this format is a bit unconventional for a novel, it 0allows the unconnected fragments of life, revealed from different but somewhat overlapping perspectives... to unfold into a meaningful, continuous whole so that the persistent tensions and powerful bonds between mother and daughter... may be illuminated through a montage effect on the reader.0 ()hen* 1i!ewise, the daughters+ stories often offer a warped reflection of their mothers+ past e"periences2 each mother-daughter pair also spea!s of the other and e"presses concern over their miscommunication. The Kitchen Gods Wife, Tan+s second large novel, simplifies this web of connections into one mother-daughter pair %innie and 3earl, who also share the main theme of lac! of communication. 3earl, who has scoliosis, has learned to !eep secrets from her mother or only tell half the truth in order to ma!e things easier between them. 4or e"ample, 3earl refers to her 5ob of speech rehabilitation by a fancy title so that her mother won+t critici6e it in her blunt Chinese ways, referring to it as teaching retarded people. %hen 7elen, convinced she will die of cancer, suggests that she should tell %innie all of 3earl+s secrets, the latter ta!es it upon her to improve the rapport with her mother. 1i!ewise, 7elen also convinces %innie to share the secrets of her past. 8ost of the novel is simply %innie+s anecdote about the troubles in her past2 troubles that 3earl had no idea about until this newfound bridge of communication was found.

9uite clearly these novels (although in this upcoming analysis they will be treated more as five individual stories rather than two novels* are lin!ed in more ways than one. &esides sharing the same author, they focus on central themes of cultural differences, mother-daughter relationships, problems and improvements of communication, and ultimately, greater !nowledge via embracing of heritage. $ach group of characters shares something in common, be it an e"perience, hope, or wea! characteristic. #n emphasi6ing the storytelling aspects, Tan weaves an elegant tapestry of anecdotes : 0intricate and haunting memories couched in carefully wrought stories.0 ()hen*

The 'others( deeply rooted to Chinese )alues

The three mothers in Joy Luck Club (and to some e"tent, ;ing-8ei+s dead mother )uyuan* all share a common concern. As ;ing-8ei states in the first short story, They are frightened. #n me, they see their own daughters, 5ust as ignorant, 5ust as unmindful of all the truths and hopes they have brought to America. They see daughters who grow impatient when their mothers tal! in Chinese, who thin! they are stupid when they e"plain things in fractured $nglish. They see that 5oy and luc!y do not mean the same to their daughters, that to these closed American-born minds <5oy luc!+ is not a word, it doesn+t e"ist. They see daughters who will bear grandchildren born without any connecting hope passed from generation to generation (Tan, =,*. Although each mother has an individual aspect she seems to focus on, the underlying e"pression is the same2 they wish for their daughters to understand and learn from their past and heritage in hopes that this wisdom will continue to live on. %innie in The Kitchen Gods Wife e"hibits the same desire, although at first she !eeps it within her. #n short, all of the mothers are deeply rooted to their Chinese values. %alter )hear refers to them in his essay as 0students who have learned about social realities around theme and use these e"periences to come to conclusions about essential forms of character strength and wea!ness.0 This is apparent in the way we can see the mothers' past e"periences connect with the discipline that they try to instill in their daughters. #n 1indo's story 0The >ed Candle0, she e"presses her worry about %averly's future children and how they, li!e %averly, will lose the strong filial ties that were so respected in 1indo's time : so important, in fact, that 1indo suffers through a terrible marriage in order to remain respectful of her parents. %averly even admits herself in 0>ules of the ?ame0 that her mother 0imparted her daily truths so she could help me and my brother rise above our circumstances (Tan, .-*.0 >ose 7su ;ordan, in 0%ithout %ood0, finally reali6es that all of the assumptions she had made about her strict mother in the past had been wrongly derived : An-8ei had not wanted to restrict her daughter's life nor ma!e it miserable2 she merely wanted to be able to help her daughter, fueled and inspired by the

lessons she had learned in her young age after learning about the lies and deception that e"isted in the world. #t is because of this e"perience that An-8ei is so concerned for >ose's faltering marriage2 she wanted >ose to be able to spea! out for what she believed in, as opposed to An-8ei's own oppressed childhood. #n the end of this particular short story, Tan uses the metaphor of @ld 8r. Chou, a harsh dreamland persona who ends up to be a friendly character after >ose can finally peer through the fog in her dream, to reveal >ose's misconceptions about her mother. #n The Kitchen God's Wife, the same personality is evident in %innie. 7er story, even more shoc!ingly harsh than those of the mothers in Joy Luck Club, is brimming with lessons learned and perspectives renewed. Throughout the story, %innie holds on to parts of her former life (be it a happy thought, such as sharing secrets with 3eanut in the greenhouse, or material goods, such as her ten silver chopstic!s* in order to mentally help herself through the bad times. 1i!ewise, she indirectly shares this same principle with 3earl, telling her stories about her past life and emphasi6ing various Chinese beliefs. The entire time %innie has lived in America, she has still !ept close ties with her Chinese friends and principles, ultimately rooting herself in her own mother culture (&ussey*2 she tal!s around her meanings, a source of miscommunication with her daughter but common in older Chinese generations when women were e"pected to be modest and not so loud spo!en. %innie also emphasi6es the difficulty of her previous life and compares it with 3earl's life of convenience to help her daughter appreciate the life that she lives now (&ussey*. At first glance, one may, as 3earl does, assume that this is typical of older lifestyles and believe it to be a hyperbole. #n fact, 3earl, for the most part, is mildly e"asperated about these discussions and does not appreciate the full value of her mother's indirect teachings (for e"ample, when %innie attempts to give 3earl the Aitchen ?od altar*. #t is not until she hears her mother's full tragic story does she finally reali6e the pain and suffering her mother has gone through and why she had always tried to !eep 3earl close, protected, and well-raised. These mothers are all 0strong, determined, endowed with mysterious power, BandC all show similar concerns about their daughters' welfare, possessively trying to hold onto their daughters ()hen*.0 Unfortunately, the daughters seem to be slipping away every day, and it is not until they are able to fully listen to and appreciate their mothers do they reali6e the power of their mothers' Chinese philosophies.

The *aughters( and the search for cultural identity

The daughters of both novels suffer confusion, usually torn between the $astern and %estern ways of thin!ing. 4or the most part, they embrace the %estern, American culture that they have been born into, which generates a detachment from their mothers and creates

conflicts and misunderstandings. #n a way, the daughters are caught in an identity crisis, facing divorce and other troubles with their Americani6ed ways of thin!ing and husbands. )hear describes this as 0!nowing possibilities rather than answers, pu66ling over the realities that seem to be surrounding them and trying to find their place in what seems an ambivalent world0 ()hear*. Although different from their mothers in philosophy, however, the daughters e"hibit the same desire to understand and be understood. After ac!nowledging that their marriages and lives may potentially be on the line, the daughters reali6e that perhaps their American ways of thin!ing are not the best after all. As >ose e"plains it in 0%ithout %ood0, 0there was a serious flaw with the American version. There were too many choices... so much to thin! about, so much to decide. $ach decision meant a turn in the other direction (Tan, D,E*.0 The daughters approach their mothers for 0e"planations, validations, and identity reinforcement and definition0 ()hear*, but are unable to fully connect until they are willing to listen to their cultural roots and accept a compromise of both philosophies and cultures. 1anguage, a literal representation of the communication barrier, comes into play more than once in the novel2 the mothers attempt to spea! bro!en $nglish but falter and relapse into Chinese, while the daughters do not fully understand the Chinese idioms their mothers convey but rather tal! bac! in $nglish. 1ater in Joy Luck Club, when ;ing-8ei as!s her father for a retelling of her mother+s story, she insists he spea! in Chinese after he starts in bro!en $nglish. This return to Chinese, the mother tongue of all the principle characters, symboli6es finally a unity between the new and the old, the daughters and the mothers, the %est and the $ast.

'other-daughter +elationships( examination of the fragments and their bonds

As stated by )hen, the mothers and daughters share 0neither the same realm of e"perience and !nowledge nor the same concerns2 their differences are not mar!ed by a slip of the tongue or lac! of linguistic adroitness or even by a generational gap, but rather b a deep geographical and cultural gap.0 %hen these two perspectives are put together, one can clearly view the main conflict between the mothers and daughters a clash of $astern and %estern philosophies. %hile the daughters perceive 0cultural blan!s0, the mothers tend to fill in too much, at times appearing too forceful in their cultural pride ()hear*. )hen also points out the irony in this conflict 0The accomplishment of the mother's dream for her daughter, a dream that entailed physical removal from her motherland, results in multifarious problems with her daughter0 ()hen*. The mothers have left China in order to pave a new destiny for themselves and their future daughters, but in doing so they have invited the problem of cultural drift into the story. 4or e"ample, 1indo accuses herself of

being responsible for %averly's attitude2 she wanted %averly to have the best of both worlds, but was unable to forsee that 0her daughter's American circumstances would not... mi" well with the Chinese reality0 ()hen*. #n Joy Luck Club, the novel is made of two opposing sets of stories two from the mothers telling of the wisdom and e"periences they had in the past, and two from the daughters, one about growing up with their mothers and one about their current family troubles. &y utili6ing the 0stories withint stories0 format, Tan e"ternali6es all of the characters' mortal worlds and allows for a display of 0motives, desires, pains, pleasures, and conerns in a simple yet dramati6ed fashion... stressing the mi"ture of action, consciousness, and subconsciousness0 ()hen*. #n The Kitchen God's Wife, the lin! lies in the two secrets of %innie and 3earl. Although separated, each of these characters has a voice2 each has a message they have always wanted to convey to their respective relation, but are unable to fully e"press themselves until they reali6e that this desire to verbally and spiritually share e"periences is mutual. $ach of these stories can be effectively grouped into sections (as in the case of Joy Luck Club* to centrali6e them even more. The prologue to each section introduces the running theme that ties all four stories together, and though they reside in different novels, these central themes e"tend to The Kitchen God's Wife as well.

,eathers from a Thousand Li

%ay

"For a long ti e no! the !o an had !anted to gi"e her daughter the single s!an feather and tell her, 'This father ay look !orthless, but it co es fro afar and carries !ith it all y good intentions#' $nd she !aited, year after year, for the day she could tell her daughter this in %erfect $ erican &nglish#"

The prologue before the first section details the story of a young woman who attempts to bring a swan with her to America, with hopes of a new and better life. 7owever, when she arrives, all of her possessions and swan are ta!en away. The only thing that remains of her big dreams is a single feather, which she stows safely away until her daughter is old enough to be e"plained its significance. #n parallel with this prologue, this section focuses on the mothers2 how their childhood e"periences have shaped who they are, and the hopes they possessed for their daughters. )ince the story actually starts with ;ing-8ei narrating in place of her now deceased mother )uyuan, the reader is already presented with an image of the Americani6ed daughter who grew up 0spea!ing only $nglish and swallowing more Coca-Cola than sorrow0 (Tan, =*. &y introducing us to ;ing-8ei first, Tan establishes the mindset and attitude that the daughters have towards their mothers before delving into the stories that refute or e"plain the seemingly harsh facades of the mothers. #n fact, she even symbolically shows the subdued side of the mothers whereas An-8ei is described as 0a short bent woman in her seventies, with a heavy bosom and thin shapeless legs0 (Tan, ,-*, at the end ;ing-8ei notes that as the mothers play mah5ong and chat together as part of the ;oy 1uc! Club, they become 0young girls again, dreaming of good times in the past and good times yet to come.0 (Tan, =D* $ach of the mothers as children come to reali6ations about the realities of life that she later tries to pass on to her children. An-8ei as a child was forced to forget her mother for most of her love, but she began to love her when she saw that mother's love was deeper than the pain 3opo (Chinese for 0grandmother0* had caused her. 0This is how a daughter honors her mother... The pain of the flesh... you must forget. &ecause that is sometimes the only way to remember what is in your bones. Fou must peel off your s!in, and that of your mother, and her mother before her0 (Tan, E,*. ;ust li!e she was able to reali6e how strong her own mother's love was, An-8ei hopes someday that her daughter >ose will be able to appreciate and reciprocate the same love. #n this sense, An-8ei uses the metaphor of 0peeling away s!in0 to stress the central theme of heritage and remembering where one's cultural roots stem from. 1indo has an important revelation on the day of her wedding, reali6ing that obeying her parents doesn't mean forgetting herself and her identity. (0# remember the day when # finally !new a genuine thought and could follow where it went... # promised not to forget myself0 BTan, /=C.* 4illed with this new strength and courage, 1indo ta!es matters into her own hands and shapes her own future, something that is e"aggerated when 1indo boasts about %averly's ability in chess later in the novel. 1indo is obviously filled with pride for her daughter2 the possibility of e"pressing !nowledge and ability is something that as a

suppressed wife she was not able to do in China. 7owever, %averly misinterprets this motherly care as intervention. As a contrast to 1indo, Fing-Fing does not find her identity but rather gives it up, becoming a 0ghost0. )he goes her entire life without much control over her path, and sadly regrets this in her old age 0Gow that # am old, moving every year closer to the end of my life, # also feel closer of the beginning. # remember everything that happened that day because it has happened many times in my life. The same innocence, trust, and restlessness2 the wonder, fear, and loneliness0 (Tan, .=*. )he tries to save her daughter from the same road, as there is stri!ing parallel between her life and her daughter's. ;ust as Fing-Fing is able to reflect on the past and find herself, this is a common goal shared by the daughters and displays the theme of 0cultural healing0 that prevails throughout the novel. Although the daughters have always perceived their mothers as misunderstanding of their American lifestyle, the truth is that they lac! full appreciation of their mothers' pasts. The revealing of the lessons that each of the mothers have learned sheds light on and provides a bac!drop for the reasons behind their behaviour in the ne"t section narrated by the daughters to display their attitudes toward their mothers who still seem too fully rooted in traditional Chinese principles.

The T%enty--ix 'alignant Gates

"### all the bad things that can ha%%en to you outside the %rotection of this house# 't is !ritten in Chinese, you cannot understand it# That is !hy you ust listen to e#" "What are they then( ## )ou can't tell e because you don't kno!* )ou don't kno! anything*"

The daughters, through each of their own stories, attempt to e"plain the difficulties that they face in association and understanding their mothers' Chinese methods to attempt to teach their children virtues. %averly admits herself that her mother 0taught her the art of invisible strength0 and 0imparted her daily truths so she could help BherC older brothers and BherC rise about BtheirC circumstances0 (Tan, .-*. 7owever, in most cases these good intentions are lost in passing between mother and daughter, and misunderstandings occur. #n %averly's case, they drifted when she felt that she and her mother were too different. #n essence, it is this variation in thin!ing and communication style that causes the drift in the first place. 1ena, unli!e %averly, ta!es a semi-passive approach to the difference between her and her mother. 1i!e her mother, who ma!es up partly-true lies in order to protect and teach her, 1ena reflects this by ma!ing up her own lies. 0%hen a man at a grocery store yelled at her for opening up 5ars to smell the insides, # was so embarrassed # told her that Chinese people were not allowed to shop there. %hen the school sent a notice home about a polio

vaccination, # told her the time and place, and added that all students were not reHuired to carry metal lunch bo"es, since they discovered old paper bags can carry polio germs0 (Tan, ,I--,,I*. This avoidance of direct confrontation shows the difference between the two and yet also shows the similarity in how they avoid the truth to prevent a troublesome situation. Ultimately, this avoidance stems from the common theme misunderstandings between the two generations and cultural styles. 4or e"ample, Fing-Fing does not reali6e that etiHuette in the )tates disallows her to open up the grocery mar!et 5ars, but instead of directly stating the difference, 1ena chooses to use the Chinese heritage e"cuse, in a way even brushing aside her own cultural roots as inferior. As a contrast to An-8ei's past, >ose originally sees her mother as someone who has lost her faith. %hen her brother &ing fell into the ocean, she witnessed her mother falter and give up, a surrender of her strength and faith, a reali6ation that she could not ta!e everything into her own hands. This difference between the strong and faithful woman >ose has always !nown her mother to be and the one that falters awa!ens >ose from her perceptions and ma!es her reali6e the change. $ven though her mother still encourages her, >ose is worried since she thin!s her mother will try in desperation to get her to fi" her bro!en marriage, 5ust as she tried in desperation to find &ing until ultimately, it ended in failure. 4inally ;ing-8ei ties together the symbolism in this section with a classical story of a battle of wills, ta!ing the clash of her desires and her mother's desires to a literal level. 0# loo!ed at my reflection... the girl staring at e was angry, powerful. This girl and # were the same. # had new thoughts, willful thoughts, or rather thoughts willed with lots of won'ts. # won't let her change me, # promised myself. # don't be what #'m not0 (Tan, ,EE*, despite her mother's efforts to 0only as! her to be her best0. ;ing-8ei, while finding her own headstrong Americani6ed identity, tosses away the filial respect that is e"pected of Chinese daughters, rebelling against her mother and her good intentions. This further separates them and eventually )uyuan stops trying to convert ;ing-8ei into a prodigy, a product of her hopes and dreams in America.

merican Translation
"'Look inside# Tell e, a ' not right( 'n this irror is y future grandchild, already sitting in y la% ne+t s%ring#' The daughter looked### there it !as, her o!n reflection staring back at her#"

The title of this section refers not only to the Americani6ed lifestyles that the daughters lead, but also the 0translation0 of their Chinese selves to American and vice versa. #t is in this story that the daughters' acceptance of their mothers slowly come into play and reveal new, alternate pathways for their troubles2 pathways that could only have been opened via a combination of American and Chinese principles2 a compromise. >ose states the trouble between the American and Chinese ways of thin!ing in her second story 0Chinese people had Chinese opinions. American people had American opinions. And in almost every case, the American version was better0 (Tan, D,E*. #t is only later on in her life that she reali6es that 0there was a serious flaw with the American version. There were too many choices, so it was easy to get confused and choose the wrong thing.0 %ith this !nowledge in mind, >ose eventually goes to her mother for reconciliation and a brief delve bac! into the 0Chinese opinions0 that enable her to successfully deal with her troublesome divorce with Ted. #n this case, it is the Chinese opinion that brings her strength to spea! out, and >ose reali6es this was what An-8ei had been trying to teach her all along. 1ena is currently suffering the results of a bad marriage2 being too lenient has caused a stiff relationship between her and her husband, including a balance sheet taped to the refrigerator door that lists out how each of their money is shared. #t ta!es 1ena's embarrassment after Fing-Fing Huestions this sheet before she reali6es that perhaps it's 0not right0 after all. %hen 1ena confronts 7arold about this later in the day, amidst their argument, a small table that represents their relationship (presented as a metaphor in the first pages of the story* topples over. Fing-Fing's response is, 0'4allen down.'0 0'#t doesn't matter'0, 1ena says, but Fing-Fing again Huestions her with, 0'Then why didn't you fi" itJ'0 This simple Huestion evo!es a sense of wonder and near shame in 1ena as she reali6es that her mother had been right all along in her predictions about her life and relationship. 0# believe my mother has a mysterious ability to see things before they happen... but she sees only bad things that affect our family. And she !nows what causes them0 (Tan, ,/,*. ;ust as Fing-Fing e"presses regret for not being able to stop these malicious things, 1ena mirrors this as she reali6es, nearly too late, that she should have heeded her mother's warnings. Though melancholy, this story subtly introduces the beginnings of 1ena's acceptance of her mother's wisdom. %averly e"emplifies the blend of Chinese and American cultures Huite well as she tries to ma!e her mother accept her American boyfriend >ich. After her refusal to continue to play chess, it was 0as if she had erected an invisible wall and # was secretly groping each day to see how high and wide it was0 (Tan, ,-I*. %hen %averly ta!es >ich home for dinner, she can see that his Americani6ed behaviour catches 1indo's disapproving eye. %averly begins to feel helpless, as if there is no possible way the Chinese and American lifestyles could blend

together, but in reality, her mother slowly accepts her choice. #t is then that %averly reali6es that her mother had never directly wanted to oppose her 0# !new what lay on the other side 7er side attac!s. 7er secret weapons. 7er uncanny ability to find my wea!est spots. &ut in the brief instant that # had peered over the barriers # could finally see what was really there an old woman, a wo! for her armor, a !nitting needle for her sword, getting a little crabby as she waited patiently for her daughter to invite her in0 (Tan, DIE*.

.ueen 'other of the #astern -kies

" ' !as once so free and innocent# ' too laughed for no reason# -ut later ' thre! a!ay y foolish innocence to %rotect yself# $nd then ' taught y daughter### to shed her innocence so she !ould not be hurt as !ell# Little .ueen, you ust teach y daughter### ho! to lose your innocence but not your ho%e# /o! to laugh fore"er#"

The last and final section in The Joy Luck Club carries a note of inspiration for the future2 even the prologue is e"pressive of the mothers' hope for their daughters 0how to lose your innocence but not your hope.0 All three mother stories, with the e"ception of ;ing-8ei's, ta!e a closer loo! at the mothers' pasts. #nstead of 5ust focusing on the childhood lessons they learned as in the first section, these final stories connect past to present, as the mothers themselves refer to their old Chinese life and their daughters' new American ones in an attempt to transfer their former wisdom. An-8ei, through her mother's suicide, acHuires a stronger spirit. )he reali6es that her mother's suicide was an act of will2 that she gave up everything to show An-8ei the reality that surrounded her. An-8ei does indeed see her mother's love and the false faces of others, using this death and pain to change her own life. An-8ei ta!es this strength and wisdom and tries to teach >ose the same 0# was raised the Chinese way # was taught to desire nothing, to
swallow other people's misery, to eat my own bitterness. And... # taught my daughter the opposite0 (Tan, DE,*. 1i!ewise, Fing-Fing says, 0# must tell my daughter everything... she will fight me... but # will win and give her my spirit, because that is the way a mother loves a daughter0 (Tan, D./*. &ecause she was unable to become more than a 0ghost0 in her lifetime, Fing-Fing wants to ma!e a better future for her daughter so that she does not follow on the same path to destruction. 1indo and %averly eventually reali6e that both their faces and their hearts are the same. Kespite 1indo's worrying of, 0%hich BfaceC is AmericanJ %hich one is ChineseJ %hich one is betterJ #f you show one, you must always sacrifice the other0 (Tan, =IE*, she secretly hopes that %averly can blend these two cultures to create her own, individual face that still carries traces of the best of both worlds.

The Kitchen Gods Wife

The Aitchen ?od's %ife is comparable to an individual story section in The Joy Luck

Club# #t carries the same tone and underlying meaning the meaning of motherLdaughter relationships to enhance cultural respect and blend into a significant outloo! for the future. &oth 3earl and %innie have a secret, and only after hearing %innie's long story about her former life does 3earl finally understand the horrors that her mother has gone through. Kespite her earlier misinterpretations of her mother's intentions, she reali6es the reason for much of her mother's actions. As Tan argues the importance of fate and individual choice (Kew*, she also imposes Huestions and parallels between 3earl and %innie's lives, especially through emphasis of the trials and tribulations of the latter. )he emphasi6es the 0nobility of friendship0 and the 0necessity of humor0 (Kew*, two things that %innie also wants 3earl to appreciate in her own life. Kespite the seeming stereotypicality of %innie, Kew in his critical essays suspects that it is Tan's intention to 0present us with a formulaic character and then slowly reveal to us our own misconceptions,0 paralleling 3earl's own personal revelation through the boo!. This revealing of secrets allows for greater understanding of %innie+s past and 3earl+s future2 3earl serves as the bridge between China and America. #f she had not listened to and accepted her mother's painful and dramatic past, she would not be able to pass on the principles and appreciation, and her daughters would not have any connection to their Chinese roots (&ussey*.

Cultural /ealing( the coexistence of #ast and West

At the end of The Joy Luck Club, ;ing-8ei ta!es a trip bac! to China to find her halfsisters and share the memories and wisdom she has gained from her mother. %hen first told this news at the beginning of the novel, ;ing-8ei is distraught as she finally reali6es that she has not been fully listening and learning from her mother the way that she should have. 7owever, at the end of the novel, ;ing-8ei is used to represent the epiphanies, reali6ations, and changes that have ta!en place in the daughters' lives. Although ;ing-8ei herself has no communication with her mother throughout the course of the novel, the relationships between the other mother-daughter pairs serve as a representation of the transformation that happens in all of the daughters, including ;ing-8ei. Although the conflicts from story to story are different, they all carry a universal theme that is shared among all five girls, including 3earl. Through others' communications and e"periences, the reader can readily infer that since these themes are universal, ;ing-8ei also undergoes reali6ation and appreciation for the mother who had tried to instill valuable Chinese principles in her daughter. %hen she ma!es her final trip bac! to China, ;ing-8ei finally understands the true

meaning of the lessons her mother has taught her, and she is ready to share them with her sisters. The transformation is complete, and she, along with the other daughters, has completed the 5ourney of 0cultural healing0 to find their true identities American-born girls with strong Chinese roots. Kespite the pre-,-MI setting of Tan's novels, the themes conveyed within are timeless. ;ust li!e the daughters of The Joy Luck Club and 3earl of The Kitchen God's Wife, Chinese-American girls nowadays still face the same struggles of identity. 8others attempt to instill $astern morals in the daughters, who are constantly caught up in the whirlwind of American lifestyles. 8ore often than not this causes conflicts, hardships, and ruthless bic!ering, but before these daughters depart on their 5ourney into life, they will come to reali6e the goodness and truth seeped into their mothers' endless lectures and teachings. #t is then that they all reali6e that their heritage lies not in the American world they are submerged in, but the ancestry that dictates a sense of hope, courage, and pride to every descendant of China. These higher-generation American-born Chinese have the privilege of a wonderful combination between $astern and %estern thin!ing, creating a new philosophy that melds together the old wisdom with new e"periences. Though mothers and daughters may be separated by cultures, it is possible to find some timeless lessons and motifs that will forever lin! those of one generation to another. &y see!ing this desire to understand and gain from past wisdom, Chinese-Americans (and those of other cultures as well* can utili6e this connection to their cultural roots to enhance their lives and establish an identity for themselves that unites the best of both worlds. Though these cultures may clash, they can also peacefully coe"ist. After all, as ingenuously stated by )hear, despite the clash of cultural values, there is always a possibility for the isolated <me+ to return home. %e are home.