Lee+Jinhyeok

Lee Jinhyeok English D

In what way is a daughter the “American Translation” of her mother? Choose a mother/ daughter pair and discuss

(Lindo Jong/Waverly Jong)

In the Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, Waverly Jong is the “American translation” of her mother. Waverly Jong represents Lindo Jong in every way from the crooked nose that they both have to the invisible strength – ability to use inner strength to achieve what one desires – that they both possess. Although Waverly resembles her mother very closely, there is a subtle difference between the two figures. Lindo likes to compare her daughter with Suyuan’s daughter Jing-Mei and show off her daughter’s success with the public, which is common among native Chinese women. However, Waverly stresses individualism, apparent in the American culture, by disproving her mother showing off her natural talent in front of the public. It is apparent that Waverly applies the invisible strength as a child but she is different from her mother in that she values individualism. Lindo Jong shows her “invisible strength” to save herself from the unwanted marriage that she was forced to have with Tyan-Yu. Lindo Jong was betrothed at the age of two to Tyan-Yu and started to live with him at the age of twelve. By chance, noticing that a servant girl was pregnant by her boyfriend, Lindo used her invisible strength to devise a plan to make the Huangs think that it was their idea to end the marriage. “He said the servant girl is Tyan-yu’s true spiritual wife, and the seed he has planted will grow into Tyan-yu’s child” (62). By cunningly making a false statement, she is able to end the relationship that she didn’t plan to have from the beginning. Waverly was only six years old when her mother taught her the invisible strength. “[Invisible strength] was a strategy for winning arguments, respect from others, and eventually, chess games” (89). By incorporating such skill as her mother had done to escape from Huang family, Waverly begins to win local tournaments at the age of only 9. Waverly parallels Lindo in that she is able to incorporate invisible strength; however, Waverly is an American translation of her mother because she sees her mother boasting to the crowd about her chess skills as a exploitation and dashes off from her mother. Waverly values individualism, which is characteristic unique to American culture, and she does not let her mother trespass her personal space. It becomes more clear that Waverly is an American translation of her mother when Waverly grows up. Waverly eventually becomes a very strong, focused tax attorney in a high-powered position thanks to her mother’s invisible strength that she inherited. However, she later turns it against her mother when she deals with the marriage issue. Unlike Lindo who didn’t resist when she had to marry Tyan-Yu, Waverly shows great individualism by trying hard to convince her mother to accept that Rich and she are getting married. First, to allow her mother a chance to realize that Waverly and Rich are living together, Waverly invites her mother to her apartment. Because she is afraid of her mother’s censure, she concocts a plan: her mother will cook dinner for her and Rich and make sure that she likes Rich. Although the dinner meeting doesn’t go successfully, Waverly does not give up. j Type in the content of your page here.

Peer edit by Sooyoung Hwang -