Conflict and Blending between American Daughters and Their Chinese Mothers free essay sample

Difference between Chinese and Western cultures has always been a main source of conflict between local people and citizens of Chinese origin. In The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan describes the conflicts between the mothers and daughters to show us different culture traditions, perceptions of life, etc. between American and Chinese culture. In the end, the two different cultures merge together. Nowadays, with the development of globalization, more contacts require an effective way of communication to narrow the gap between different cultures. Thus, in this thesis, through systematic study of The Joy Luck Club by analyzing what are the conflicts, and why they have conflicts, to dissect the main reasons of cultural conflicts and find proper ways in blending cultures. 2 Conflicts between Mothers and Daughters in The Joy Luck Club 2. 1 Conflicts between Suyuan Woo and June The main conflict between Suyuan Woo and her daughter lies in that the mother had too much expectation for her daughter, while the daughter could not stand the great pressure. For example, Suyuan wanted to shape her daughter to be a famous pianist, although she was too poor to afford a piano. Finally she managed to do some cleaning for a retired piano teacher and got the opportunity for her daughter. But her daughter was not pleased; she wanted to be herself, to be an ordinary person, and she defied her mother many times. In the traditional Chinese culture, parents wanted the best for their children. They believed that childrens success was their success, and they would be very proud. The parents had the right to arrange their life, future and marriage, and children had to respect their parents. Jing-mei Woo was looking forward to the freedom of the Western way of life, while her mother insisted to impose the tradition on her. She believed she was not a slave to her mother, and this was not China, she had the right to enjoy as much democracy and equality as other white children. 2. 2 Conflicts between An-mei Hsu and Rose The main conflict between An-mei Hsu and her daughter lies in confidence. The mother tended to be more confident and self-esteemed as a Chinese. The daughter, however, suffered a sense of inferiority being a Chinese. She disdained the Chinese wisdom and always neglected her mother’s opinions. For example, An-mei told Rose that she should stand up bravely and learn to control the destiny of her own marriage. Besides, being a Chinese was not a shame, and each man was irreplaceable. But Rose turned a deaf ear to her at the beginning. With this prejudice to Chinese, when Rose’s marriage came across difficulties, she preferred to confide them to her friends, and even a psychiatrist rather than her mother, which made her mother very sad and depressed. And they had a heat quarrel on this issue. 2. 3 Conflicts between Lindo Jong and Waverly The main conflicts between Lindo Jong and her daughter lies in Lindo Jong’s showing off her daughters achievements to others and intervening in her daughter’s private affairs, which brought great aversion to her daughter. To get rid of the torture of old China, Lindo came to the United States to seek a better material life, and more opportunities for her kids. Lindo Jong hoped that her daughter could be outstanding, and she tried to train her daughter to be a chess master. Proud of her daughters achievements, she often showed it off to the outsiders, which brought strong aversion to Waverly. After a heated quarrel, their relationship began to tense up. Although after the Chess Conflicts, Lindo Jong did not intervene in her daughters life directly, still in her daughters marriage, she would not stand by. In the Chinese tradition, parents have rights to interfere with this matter for the good of their kids. But Waverly couldn’t accept this, and the conflict between them created. 3 Causes of Conflicts between Mothers and Daughters in The Joy Luck Club 3. 1 Different Forms of Social Organizations China is an agricultural country with a long history, and the area suitable for farming has been developed very early, but the never-ending population growth makes competition to survive cruel and fierce. So the power of one person is very weak, while the family holds the greater amount of labor power and instruments to work. So this makes family values become the most important social and cultural characteristics. This concept is reflected in three aspects: firstly, it demands strict order within the family, such as the obedience of the wife to her husband; secondly, it emphasizes the family unity against the enemys competition; thirdly, the whole family must share weal and woe. On the contrary, the Americans are indifferent to the concept of extended family, and they respect personal independence, personal development and individual success. Besides, they spoke highly of material comforts. When children grow up, they automatically leave their parents to assume their responsibilities and obligations. Relatively speaking, they would like to be alone. Thus, different forms of social organizations result in the conflicts between mothers and daughters in this novel. Some examples can be seen as follows: Su Suyuan Woo said in my house, only obedient daughters can stay here†, which shows the strict order within the family. However, Jing-mei Woo was born in America and she was accustomed to the Western way of life, and she pursue for freedom and equality, so she didn’t agree with her mother’s opinion while her mother insisted to impose the tradition on her. 3. 2 Different Ways of Expressions Conflicts between mothers and daughters are caused by different ways of expression between the East and the West, which can be attributed to the high and low context culture. High context culture and the contrasting low context culture are terms presented by the anthropologist Edward T. Hall in his 1976 book Beyond Culture. It refers to a cultures tendency to use high context messages over low context messages in routine communication. In a high context culture, many things are left unsaid, letting the culture explain. Word choices become very important in higher context communication, since a few words can mean a complex message very effectively, while in a lower context culture, the communicator needs to be much more explicit and the value of a single word is less important. The communication problems that arise when one speaker is from a high-context culture and the other is from a low-context culture can be seen in the conversations of Suyuan and June, My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated each others meanings and I seemed to hear less than what was said, while my mother heard more, said June. The conflict between Lindo and her daughters husband is another typical example. Although this is not a direct conflict between mother and daughter, still as an Americanized person, the daughter also had experienced the similar kind of conflict. When Waverly invited her new boyfriend Rich, an American, to dinner, mother Lindo prepared a big dinner, including her favorite steamed pork and preserved vegetable dish. As the Chinese cooks custom, the mother always made disparaging remarks about her own cooking. This dish not salty enough, no flavor, She complains, Its too bad to eat. Chinese people understand that actually she was encouraging the guests to have a taste, and then praise her cooking skills. But Rich says: You know, all it needs is a little soy sauce, then he poured the salty black staff on the platter, which made her mother very embarrassed and angry. Actually, Chinese people take modesty as a virtue, the praise of others is often euphemistically denied, and prefer not to show off accomplishments; On the contrary, the Americans advocate personal endeavor, they are willing to accept praise and gratitude. Rich, who grew up under the influence of low context culture, and he could not understand the Chinese modesty, which hides some meanings under the high context culture. 4 Conclusion In The Joy Luck Club, each mother felt deeply anguish of the cultural separation between herself and her daughter which result in conflicts. Each mother wanted her daughter to know the power and advantage of joining the strengths of two cultures instead of embracing only the American style. From analyzing the causes of forming conflicts between three pairs of mothers and daughters in this novel, it can be concluded that culture barriers come from different culture backgrounds and different ways of expressions. Thus, some revelation for today is that mutual understanding and effective communication can reduce conflicts. Only grasping the essence of different cultures to complement each other, people who come from different nations with different cultures can get along with harmony. References