Mother-Daughter Relationships In Amy Tan's Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mom

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It is hard for a mother and daughter to have a healthy relationship when the mother is viewed as an evil figure by the child. It is normal for the mother and daughter to have their small cat fights because that is what makes the relationship healthy. It shows that the mother cares enough to have these feuds with her daughter. Sometimes though the mother goes too far and tries to make their daughter something they are not, and that is not a healthy relationship. These mother and daughter relationships, along with their tone, can be observed in the memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom by Amy Chua and the novel The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. In the excerpt, “The Violin” from Chua’s memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom the tone can be set as tense and caring. “‘RELAX!’ I screamed at home. ‘Mr. Shugart said RAG DOLL!’”(Chua 47-48). This quote reinforces the tense tone of the excerpt because the mother was screaming. The quotes “I always tried my best to reinforce Mr. Shugart’s points” and “‘Stop it Mommy. Just stop it.’”(Chua 47-48) show the tone of caring because Chua said she tried to reinforce the points of the teacher which shows that she tried to help her daughter the way the teacher did. The daughter also called Chua “Mommy” …show more content…

“‘Only two kinds of daughters,’ she shouted in Chinese. ‘Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!’”(Tan 141-142). This quote expresses the tone of strict because the mom is telling Amy Tan that she can only live in the house if she is an obedient daughter. The quote, “‘Then I wish I weren’t your daughter, I wish you weren’t my mother,’ I shouted”(Tan 141-142) expresses the tone of hateful because the things Tan said as a child to her mother were just hateful to say. The relationship between this mother and daughter is a poor

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