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The American Translation

Living in a foreign land with parents with different ethnicity creates cultural clashes between the mother and the child; however, at the end they figure out how similar they are to each other. //The// //Joy Luck Club// written by Amy Tan, illustrates how the Chinese daughters are the “American Translation” of their mothers. Jing-mei gradually becomes to resemble her mother, Suyuan, throughout the stories laid out in //The Joy Luck Club//. Suyuan has gone through many obstacles during her life in China. Her first husband left to join the war, and while waiting for him she created the Joy Luck Club; four women “raise money and raise their spirits” (Tan 10) by playing mah jong. The intention of this invention was to maintain hope and joy. However soon a bomb destroys the place and thus Suyuan carries her two baby daughters and some household stuff and starts walking. Shortly her lost of energy forces her to leaver her babies behind. Yet Suyuan does not loose her mentality to create happiness and success. Jing-mei was born in America between Suyuan and her second husband. In contrast to her mother, Jing-mei was born and raised in the United States. In her life, she drops out of everything to find her true interest, and “won’t be what [she’s] not” (Tan 144), but the Chinese people around Jing-mei see her as a failure. The cultural disparities between these two characters create a wall in understanding each other. Like the other mothers in the novel, Suyuan expresses her love with criticism. Suyuan even tells her daughter that she is not as good as her life long “enemy” Waverly. Jing-mei is not capable of understanding this attitude and therefore feels somewhat betrayed. Jing-mei, even in her youth, “felt as though [she] had been sent to hell” (Tan 146) because her mother forces her to have piano. Even after Suyuan’s death, Jing-mei believes that she and her mother “never really understood one another” (Tan 27). This scene exemplifies how different the two characters perceive an action. Suyuan who portrays her love and trust in her daughter through high expectations, and a daughter who believes that this way of expression is illogical. Despite their growing dissimilarities, Jing-mei discovers resemblances that she shares with her mother throughout the novel. In the story “Best Quality,” Jing-mei recovers an event that happened a few months before Suyuan’s death. Jing-mei, unlike the other Chinese attending the crab feast, tries to giver her mother the best remaining crab, which she refuses. Suyuan later tells Jing-mei that “[she] think[s] different[y]” (Tan 234) from others with a tone of if this were something good. Jing-mei finally is able to recognize her mother’s true feelings towards her. Although Jing-mei always felt that she and her mother did not share anything in common, she realizes that they actually do have some familiar believes. In the latter story “A Pair of Tickets,” Jing-mei travels to China to meet her half sisters and get to know her mother more in depth. The moment Jing-mei enters China she feel that “[she is] becoming Chinese” (Tan 306). Here she begins to appreciate her mother’s words that “once you are born Chinese, you cannot help but feel and think Chinese” (Tan 306). This story reveals that despite the many troubles gone through due to the cultural differences, at the end daughters are like their mother. In former stories, like the other daughters, Jing-mei believes that she does not look like her mother. Nonetheless, when she scans through the pictures taken with her half sisters, she is able to recognize the resemblance of her and her mother. Even though Jing-mei has live in the United States her entire life, she does have Chinese blood running in herself; however, she discovers this only after her mother’s death. Despite the completely different backgrounds Suyuan and Jing-mei have, Jing-mei’s later thoughts and actions reveal that she is the Americanized version of Suyuan.