Examples Of Miscommunication In The Joy Luck Club

Miscommunication is very common in the real world, and its something that everyone has dealt with before. Sometimes there are miscommunications between people because of where they came from or the way people were raised. This is true within the novel The Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan. The novel introduces the idea that miscommunication causes conflict between a mother and daughter's relationship. Tan uses a mother and daughter as an example to represent the differences in their views and how it leads to miscommunication.
Jing-Mei; the daughter, was always the person who always wanted to be someone else. It was because her mother, Suyuan, came from somewhere different. This was the main problem because Jing-Mei never understood why her mother was strict on her. Her mother says that, “Everybody else want best quality. You thinking different” (Tan 233). Jing-Mei starts to think she does not deserve the best, and this has an effect on her. The effect on her is that

She started to realize who she came from, what her culture is and why her mother did the things she did. Her mother Suyuan always had a reason for everything she did. For instance Suyuan was very specific with instruments and sports she could play, because everything had to go by her culture. Jing- Mei didn't like everything Suyuan wanted her to do. She just wanted to be herself. According to Tan she says, “Why don't you like me the way I am? I'm not a genius” (146). Jing- Mei didn't like the way she was treated by her mother, but she also didn't like to disappoint her mother. They are different, because they never seem to understand each other. Jing- Mei says, “ But my mothers expression was what devastated me” (Tan 151). All she ever wanted to do was make her mother proud, but could never own up to her mothers