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The American Translation - Waverly and Lindo

The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, is a series of short stories about four different Chinese American families and their experiences of the past and the present. Each family is mainly narrated by a mother-daughter pair, who are very similar yet still mildly different from each other. As the short stories from each character unfolds, every mother-daughter pairs are challenged to overcome the small, yet critical, differences in culture, some that are clearly solved, while some only show hints of approaching a solution. Waverly and her mother Lindo are one of the pairs that show the readers of an obvious ending that show the possibilities of a successful coexistence and understanding of a mother and her daughter. Although the two clash with each other because of a lack of understanding, mainly due to miscommunication, by the end of the book, the daughter, Waverly, finally opens up to her mother and begins to understand that Lindo was never an opponent, but rather more of a supporter, if not a teammate.

Mothers can be very ambitious, sometimes a bit too much. Lindo was one of these over ambitious mothers that wanted her daughter to excel more than others. Having such a mother, Waverly, many times, misunderstands what her mother is trying to do. There is also the problem of having a language barrier. When talking with her mother, Waverly says “That’s not what I meant. That’s not what I said” (101). This does not only refer to Lindo’s misunderstanding of her daughter. Waverly also misunderstands what her mother is trying to do, for example, when Lindo shows her pride as being the mother of her daughter, Waverly misunderstands this as Lindo trying “to take all the credit” for Waverly’s talent (187). These eventually makes Waverly think that her mother was just another opponent to defeat. “Opposite me was my opponent, two angry black slits” (Tan 103). To the young Waverly, her mother was never seen as a person on the same side of the chess board and neither was her mother an easy opponent. Lindo “wore a triumphant smile,” as she dueled against her daughter in Waverly’s mind (103). This enormous amount of pressure causes Waverly to ‘snap’ and run away from her mother and, to her surprise, she “was not running away from anything” (102). When Waverly returns home, she finds her mother already in the house instead of outside looking for her. Lindo even shows how pointless it was for Waverly to try to run away by saying, “We not concerning this girl” (103).

Even though in the beginning, the two characters seem very different and distant from each other, the two are, in fact, very similar to each other in a sense. From Waverly’s skills in chess as well as her fast reactions to certain situations shows that she is very quick and sharp about the events that occur around her. Lindo, however, also shows her sharp senses as she is brought into the Huang family. As she was brought to the kitchen immediately, “which was a place where family children didn’t usually go,” she quickly realizes her “standing” (49). Lindo has also proven herself to be very strategic, especially with the marriage candles. Lindo blows out the candles that represent her fate concerning the marriage, “filled with so much hope” (56). Not only does she make her mother-in-law despise her to get out of her marriage by using Tyan-yu’s lies of the reasons for not having a child, she also creates a sort of curse by creating a false premonition about the marriage. This allows her to not only get out of the marriage that brought her to tears, but also get the chance to go to the United States with the money she received from the Huang family. Waverly is also very similar to Lindo in the sense that they are both very strategic and opportunistic. Waverly creates a chance for her to move into her brother’s room using chess as an excuse. She also creates special privileges using chess, such as not doing the chores and being allowed to leave food on the table. Though the level of what the two achieved by using their planned out strategies are very different, Lindo and Waverly are on par with each other in that they both analyze then carefully scheme what they are going to do to achieve something.

As years pass and Waverly is no longer the immature child she used to be, Waverly’s view of her mother changes drastically. Living away from her mother, Waverly finally realizes the importance of having her mother by her side. She also finds out how the not-so-good relationship she had with her mother was all because of a mix in the lack of tolerance, patience, understanding, and conversation. Waverly truly realizes what she was missing and what her mother, Lindo, was trying to do after her conversation with Lindo about Taiyuan and Taiwon. She “understand[s] finally” about her mother and “what had been true all along” (203). Having realized what the two were lacking, Waverly is finally able to see how she and her mother were similar. She notices how she is not only physically similar to her mother, but also by characteristics. She is also no longer embarrassed for having the genes of her mother, but rather proud. She also jokes around with her mother many times after the conversation with her mother about jumping to conclusions, such as how the two have noses that makes them “look devious” (304). This stubborn behavior would have before brought out another sour conversation, however, Lindo also realizes the similarities present in Waverly with her that she recognizes what this was supposed to mean.

Waverly and Lindo are from two very different cultures. This causes miscommunication to occur when they are in a discussion, leading to an eventual loss of conversation. This loss of connection leads to become different in many ways. However, as the stories unfold and time mends the relationship of the two, Waverly shows that she is, in fact, an American translation of her mother. They both share features that are both tangible as well as intangible that create who they are.