THE EFFECTS OF CULTURAL CONFLICTS ON THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS AS SEEN IN AMY TAN’S THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER
AND THE JOY LUCK CLUB
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Eunike Indriani Poedjianto
Student Number: 06 1214 109
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ART EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
i
THE EFFECTS OF CULTURAL CONFLICTS ON THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS AS SEEN IN AMY TAN’S THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER
AND THE JOY LUCK CLUB
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Eunike Indriani Poedjianto
Student Number: 06 1214 109
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ART EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declared that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain
the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations
and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, June 17th, 2010 The Writer
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIK
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Eunike Indriani Poedjianto
Nomor Mahasiswa : 06 1214 109
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
THE EFFECTS OF THE CULTURAL CONFLICTS ON THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS AS SEEN IN AMY TAN’S THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER AND THE JOY LUCK CLUB
Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin ataupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: ……….
Yang menyatakan
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ABSTRACT
Poedjianto, Eunike Indriani (2010). The Effects of the Cultural Conflicts on the Mother-Daughter Relationship as Seen in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Joy Luck Club. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program Sanata Dharma University.
This thesis discusses two Amy Tan’s novels, The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Joy Luck Club. This thesis is about six mother-daughter relationships to be discussed, Precious Auntie and LuLing, LuLing and Ruth (Luyi), Suyuan Woo and Jing-mei (June), Lindo Jong and Waverly Jong, An Mei Hsu and Rose Hsu Jordan, and Ying-Ying St. Clair and Lena St. Clair. The mothers in these novels are Chinese born, while their daughters were born and grew up in America. This different culture causes cultural conflicts in their relationship.
In doing this research, there is one research question: what the effects of cultural conflicts are on the mother-daughter relationships in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughterand The Joy Luck Club.
Library research was used in this study. A collection of articles, journals, critical essays, and other available printed matters were gathered from libraries as well as electronic resources. Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Joy Luck Club serve as the primary or main data. Other sources were collected to gain data and facts on Chinese culture. Some of the secondary sources are mostly taken from the books of culture (especially Chinese culture) like Theories of Culture in Postmodern Times by Marvin Harris and Under the Ancestors’ Shadow by Francis L.K. Hsu and the books of sociology.
In order to answer the question, I used the sociocultural approach because this cultural conflicts deal with society and culture. The theories I refer are theory of conflict, theory and reviews on the mother-daughter relationship, and some reviews on Chinese culture.
After analyzing these novels, there are two points that can be concluded. The first is the causes of conflicts. The causes of the conflicts between the mothers and the daughters in these novels are individual differences, cultural differences, and social change. Meanwhile, the second cause concerns the cultural conflicts and the effects on the mother-daughter relationships as seen in the novels. The cultural conflicts and the effects are divided into two most problematic problems here, namely the problem in communication and the problem in attitude. Meanwhile, the problem in attitude has been divided into four parts, namely: being superstitious, boasting habit, the conflicting response on marriage’s different perception, and the conflicting response on mother figure’s different perception.
vii
ABSTRAK
Poedjianto, Eunike Indriani (2010). The Effects of the Cultural Conflicts on the Mother-Daughter Relationship as Seen in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Joy Luck Club. Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Universitas Sanata dharma.
Skripsi ini membahas dua novel karangan Amy Tan yang berjudul The Bonesetter’s Daughter dan The Joy Luck Club. Kedua novel ini menceritakan enam buah hubungan ibu dan anak perempuannya yakni antara Precious Auntie dan LuLing, LuLing dan Ruth (Luyi), Suyuan Woo dan Jing-mei (June), Lindo Jong dan Waverly Jong, An Mei Hsu dan Rose Hsu Jordan, dan Ying-Ying St. Clair dan Lena St. Clair. Masing-masing Ibu adalah kelahiran dan keturunan Cina murni, sedangkan anak-anak mereka lahir dan dibesarkan di Amerika. Perbedaan latar belakang budaya ini menyebabkan permasalahan-permasalahan timbul di antara mereka.
Dalam mengerjakan analisa ini, terdapat satu buah masalah yang dinyatakan dalam rumusan masalah, yakni apakah akibat-akibat dari pertentangan budaya dalam hubungan-hubungan ibu dan anak perempuannya seperti terdapat dalam kedua novel Amy Tan, The Bonesetter’s Daughter dan The Joy Luck Club ?
Studi pustaka digunakan dalam menganalisa data. Koleksi artikel, jurnal, esai, dan materi-materi lainnya yang dapat diperoleh di perpustakaan, sama halnya dengan bahan-bahan dari internet digunakan dalam menganalisa data. Kedua novel Amy Tan, The Bonesetter’s Daughter dan The Joy Luck Club menjadi sumber utama. Selain itu, saya juga mengumpulkan data dan fakta tentang budaya Cina. Sumber-sumber lainnya kebanyakan terambil dari buku-buku tentang budaya (khususnya tentang budaya Cina) seperti Theory of Culture in Postmodern Times karangan Marvin Harris dan Under the Ancestors’ Shadow karangan Francis L.K.Hsu dan buku-buku sosiologi.
Untuk menjawab pertanyaan dalam rumusan masalah, saya menggunakan pendekatan sosial-budaya karena pertentangan budaya dalam kedua novel yang saya analisa ini berkaitan dengan lingkungan dan budaya. Sedangkan teori-teori yang saya gunakan adalah teori-teori mengenai konflik, teori dan resensi tentang hubungan ibu dan anak, dan beberapa resensi tentang budaya Cina.
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I can do all things through CHRIST who
strengthens me. . .
☺
PHILIPPIANS 4 : 13
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sometimes I see something as a bad thing and ask God, “Why, God?” and
not thanking God for what happened. Then, one by one, slowly but surely, God’s
plan comes up and becomes clearer everyday. Then, I realize that something that I
called as a “bad thing” is a part of God’s plan. In this great and wonderful
moment, I would like to give my biggest and greatest gratitude to my beloved
Savior, Jesus Christ who always bless me, guide me, and give me the greatest spirit and knowledge that could make me finish this thesis right now.
I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Mrs. Henny Herawati,
S.Pd., M.Hum., as my thesis advisor, for her time, support, suggestions, kindness, patience, knowledge, and everything she had given to me.
Then, I would like to give my gratitude to Mrs. C. Tutyandari, S.Pd.,
M.Pd., as the Chief of English Education Study Program and my RELT’s lecturer and to Mr. Agustinus Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A., for the knowledge both of them had given to me.
I also would like to give my gratitude to all my lecturers in PBI for their guidance during my study in Sanata Dharma University. I am nothing without all
of them. I would like to give my gratitude to Mba Tari and Mba Danniek in PBI
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I would like to express my deepest love and my deepest gratitude to my
beloved father in heaven, papi Pdt. Andreas Poedjianto, for always “watching” me from above, for helping me to make me strong in this hard life, and to my
beloved and wonderful mother, mami Yohanna Haryanti Setyawan, for the prayer, the love, the hope, and for being a strong Mom that makes me strong too.
I would like to give my gratitude to all of my family especially for Oma
Sing Gie and OmBudianto (Om Boen), and to my wonderful Junior High School headmaster, Mrs. Lis Setiatin, for the prayer and the support. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my very best aunt, Iik Eli as my best proofreader who gave so many suggestions and much time to read my thesis.
I would like to give my special thank to Rizki Sambodo (Ariz). Thanks for the spirit, for helping me in making me more mature, for every laugh, every
tear, and every smile we shared together. I have learnt so much from the beautiful
chance that God gave for me to know him.
I would like to give my best appreciation and thanks to all my best friends
in college: Lance, Anes, Fance, Entiw, and Ade, for the great relationship we have in this college time. May our friendship last forever!
I would like to give my gratitude to all of my best friends since I was in
Junior High School: Iyaw, Iphay, Why-why, and in Senior High School: Tika,
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I also would like to give my best appreciation and thanks to Lance (again),
Angga, and CePatty for being my proofreader, for the time and their suggestions. I also would like to give my gratitude to PBI 2006’s students for encouraging me
and for every best wish.
Last but not the least, I would like to give my gratitude to every single
person who often asked me, “How is your thesis? When will you have your final
exam?” every time we met. For all my friends in Junior High School and in Senior
High School who already graduated, thanks for “encouraging” me to finish it as
soon as possible. At last, I would like to give my gratitude to everyone who also
included me in every prayer and had shared beautiful moments with me. God
bless them all.
xiii STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY..………..…………...
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN...…………....……… ABSTRACT………..…
A. Background of the Study.………..
B. Problem formulation……….………. .
C. Objective of the Study……….
D. Benefits of the Study………..……….
E. Definitions of the Terms.………….………...
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies……….
B. Review of Related Theories……….……..
1. Theory of Sociocultural Approach………
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a) The Causes of Conflict………...…..
b) Theory of Mother-Daughter Relationship……….
1)Meaning of Mother-Daughter Relationship……..………
2)Conflicts in Mother-Daughter Relationship………..……
C. Review on Chinese Culture in Contrast with American Culture…....
D. Theoretical Framework………...
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
A. Objects of the Study………
B. Approach of the Study...……….……
C. Method of the Study………
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS
A. The Causes of the Conflicts………
B. The Cultural Conflicts and The Effects on the Mother-Daughter
Relationship……….
1. The Problem in Communication..……….
2. The Problems in Attitude …….……….
a) Being Superstitious .………..
b) Boasting Habit ..……….
c) The Conflicting Response on Marriage’s Different
Perception ………..
d) The Conflicting Response on Mother Figure’s Different
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CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions……….………
B. Suggestions ………
1. Suggestions for Future Researchers.………..………...
2. Suggestions for English Teachers: the Implementation of
The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Joy Luck Club to
teach Intensive Reading II……….
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Summary of The Bonesetter’s Daughter………
Appendix 2: Summary of The Joy Luck Club………..…..
Appendix 3: Biography of Amy Tan………..
Appendix 4: Lesson Plan………
Appendix 5: Implementation of The Joy Luck Club to Teach Intensive
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of five parts. The first part is the background of the
study. It explains the reasons for choosing Amy Tan’s novels, The Bonesetter’s
Daughter and The Joy Luck Club. The second part, problem formulation, concerns with the problem that leads to the analysis of the study. In the third part,
the objectives of the study, the aims of conducting the study are stated. The forth
part mentions the benefits of the study. Finally, in order to avoid
misunderstanding, there are definitions of some terms.
A. Background of the Study
A family as the smallest unit in the society is the basis of people (children)
behavior. A mother and daughter relationship in a family is very important. The
bond between a mother and a daughter is very strong. Noller and Fitzpatrick (267)
state that the bond attachment between mother and child is formed to maintain
proximity between a mother and an infant. They also state that the maintenance of
proximity is mutual endeavor of both the mother and the child and is sometimes
initiated by the mother and sometimes by the daughter (267).
A mother has a special role, especially in the life of her daughter, who
usually has very close relationship with mother. However, a relationship between
mother and daughter does not always go well. Something can always go wrong.
her adolescent year. When the daughter is in her adolescent year, usually she tries
to find her self identity. The mother usually has bigger expectation of her daughter
in her daughter’s life that is hard to understand and to fulfill for her daughter.
The problem is not only from that misunderstanding side, but usually
culture plays an important role in a mother-and-daughter relationship, especially
when there is a cultural gap between them. For example, a daughter lives
separately from her mother in a place of different culture from her mother’s.
Culture can influence and develop the family relationship, especially
mother-daughter relationship. Cultural differences may raise conflicts between individuals
or between groups in the society, even in the family. Different cultures can
produce different points of view or perception. For example, Chinese people see a
mother-daughter relationship in a different way from the way American people
see it. A mother in the Chinese culture is usually stricter than a mother in the
American culture. While a Chinese mother treats and teaches her daughter strictly,
an American mother usually gives more freedom to her daughter.
Two novels would be the source of discussion here. The Bonesetter’s
Daughter and The Joy Luck Club were both written by Amy Tan, a
Chinese-American novelist who wrote about a Chinese-Chinese-American mixed marriage and a
mother-daughter relationship. The first novel, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, talks
about relationships of two mothers and their daughters. The first main character is
Ruth as Chinese-American young woman whose life is very much influenced by
the Chinese culture and who has a bad relationship with her strict mother, LuLing.
as described in the novel. The second main character is LuLing herself, who has a
very close relationship with her mother, called Precious Auntie.
Meanwhile, the second novel, The Joy Luck Club, talks about the
relationships of four mothers and their daughters: Suyuan Woo and Jing-mei (June), Lindo Jong and Waverly Jong, An Mei Hsu and Rose Hsu Jordan, and
Ying-ying St. Clair and Lena St. Clair. Suyuan is a Chinese woman who strongly
holds on her culture and although she and her daughter have moved to San
Francisco, the United States of America, Suyuan brings up her daughter in such a
strong Chinese culture, which sometimes causes misunderstanding between them.
Problems occur when mother and daughter do not “know” each other.
The other three mothers in this novel also hold the strong Chinese beliefs
that sometimes cannot blend with what the daughters’ want (because the
daughters have already been influenced by American culture). It causes many
problems and misunderstandings. The problems derive from the different
perspective and how they cannot talk openly one to another as mother and
daughter.
The main problem is communication. They cannot understand one to
another and there comes problems of attitude that mothers approve but daughters
do not like. Because of the problem in communication, these conflicting attitudes
could not be shared. It raises more and more conflicts. This novel also describes
the relationships between the mothers (Suyuan Woo, An Mei Hsu, Lindo Jong,
and Ying-ying St. Clair) with their mothers. In the novel we can see that most of
the bad relationship between them and their daughter. Each mother and each
daughter in this novel has different perception about mother and family which is
unshared too.
Amy Tan’s novels are very rich of cultural conflicts. She presents a very
wonderful bound between family relationship and culture. The explanation above
shows how The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Joy Luck Club contain so many
problems of mother-daughter relationships. Amy Tan beautifully presents the
conflicts in the relationship and also presents the readers real examples of family’s
problem. In analyzing these novels, I focus on the effects of cultural conflicts on
the mother-daughter relationships in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter and
The Joy Luck Club.
B. Problem Formulation
In doing this research, I have one problem formulation as follow,
What are the effects of cultural conflicts on the mother-daughter relationships in
Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughterand The Joy Luck Club ?
C. Objective of the Study
In doing this research, I have one objective. The objective of this research
is to reveal the effects of cultural conflicts on the mother-daughter relationships in
D. Benefits of the Study
There are some benefits we can acquire from this research. They are
divided into two parts as follows.
a. The benefits for the education field
Hopefully, the result of this research can give benefits to senior high
school and college students and those teaching literature. For students in
Senior High School and college, they will have deeper understanding in
novels, especially in Amy Tan’s works. They can learn from a unique
culture and gain some new knowledge. Meanwhile, for lecturer, these two
novels could be one reference to be used in some courses, like in Reading
Course, Introduction to Literature and also in Prose. By using novels, lecturers can encourage their students to develop their reading habit. These
novels broaden not only our knowledge, but also our imagination and
understanding toward different cultures. Besides, it also can be a variation
to make lectures more interesting. For both lecturer and students, they can
appreciate literary study as something valuable.
b. The benefits to readers in general
There are two benefits to people in the society. First, they can get better
understanding of mother-daughter relationship. Hopefully, through this
research, we can gain more insights into problematic relationships between
can also learn the value of mother in one’s life. No matter how strict she
is, she always tries to give her best to her children as she loves them.
E. Definitions of the Terms
In this research, I work in literature and talk about the effects of the
cultural conflicts on the mothers-daughters relationship. To avoid
misunderstanding, below are definitions of some terms used in this study:
The first is culture. According to Kane (162) culture refers to ways of
thinking and doing passed down from generation to generation. In this study,
culture refers to the ways of thinking and doing passed down from mothers and
daughters from two different cultures which are Chinese and American.
The second is conflict.Noller and Fitzpatrick (98) said that conflict occurs
in a family because the family members hold a difference between them. Noller
and Fitzpatrick (99) included that when the members of the family do not agree
about the situations in their lives such as one’s behavior, one’s opinions, etc; there
is a conflict. In this study, conflict refers to the disagreement between the mothers
and the daughters about the situations in their lives in one’s behavior, one’s
opinions and conflict occurs in their relationship because the mothers and the
daughters hold culture differences between Chinese culture and American culture.
The third is mother-daughter relationship. The strongest parents-children
relationship is the relationship between mother and her daughter (Noller and
Fitzpatrick 267). According to them too, there is often conflict between mother
demanding person while man usually idealizes his mother (267). In this study, the
strongest parents-children relationship is shown by the relationship between six
mothers and their daughters, they are: Precious Auntie and her daughter, LuLing;
LuLing and her daughter, Ruth (Luyi); Suyuan Woo and her daughter, June
(Jing-mei); Lindo Jong and her daughter, Waverly Jong; An Mei Hsu and her daughter,
Rose Hsu Jordan; and Ying-ying St. Clair and her daughter, Lena St. Clair. Each
of them has conflicts inside their mother-daughter relationship. There are often
conflicts between the mothers and the daughters because the daughters see their
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter contains four parts: the review of related studies, the review
of related theories, the review on Chinese culture in contrast with American
culture, and the theoretical framework that explains the contribution of the
theories in the problem solution.
A. Review of Related Studies
There have been two separate studies conducted on these two novels of
Amy Tan. First, Yosepha Respati (981214068), who studied The Joy Luck Club,
talked about the influence of mothers’ background on raising their daughters. She
used sociocultural-historical approach. Second, Vini Sunadi (991214188), who
studied The Bonesetter’s Daughter, analyzed the characterization on the character
of both mother and daughter and how mother-daughter relationship was described
in the novel by using the psychological approach. Unlike these two separate
studies on the two novels, I made a comparison of the two, The Bonesetter’s
Daughter and The Joy Luck Club, and analyzed the cultural conflicts’ effects on
the mother-daughter relationship by using sociocultural approach.
B. Review of Related Theories
The review of related theories discusses some aspects of literature that
theories are employed to analyze the problem: the theory of critical approaches,
the theory of conflict, and the theory of mother-daughter relationship.
1. Theory of Sociocultural Approach
According to Culler (32), literature is a self-reflective context where
people can reflect on what they had done in their life. Culler (32) states that
novels are about the problems and possibilities of representing and giving shape
or meaning to every experience people had.
Literature is a social institution, using as its medium language, a social creation. Such traditional literary devices as symbolism and meter are social in their very nature. They are conventions norms which could have arisen only in society. But, furthermore, literature represents ‘life’; and ‘life’ is, in large measure, a social reality, even though the natural world and the inner or subjective world of the individual have also been objects of literary ‘imitation’. (Wellek and Warren 94)
As Wellek and Warren state that literature is a social institution, literature
deals with society and literature cannot be apart from society. Literature
represents ‘life’ as social reality. Literature also talks about the problem in the
society and all the cases people can find in the real life.
In this study, I used theory of sociocultural approach in order to analyze
the cultural conflicts and the effects those conflicts on a family relationship.
According to Rohrberger Woods Jr. (6 – 15), sociocultural approach deals with
the reference of social and cultural background of literary work. It is necessary to
investigate the social milieu in which a work was created and which it necessarily
reflects on. The critics of this approach believe that it is necessary to investigate
way to locate the real work is in reference to the civilization of which the attitudes
and actions of a specific group of people become the subject matter. It means, in
order to analyze a literary work, we need to analyze and understand the social
background when the literary was produced. The proponents of this approach
analyze the sociocultural background that can be found in the story itself or
outside the story in order to get the meaning of the study and give the esthetic
response to it.
2. Theory of Conflicts
There are several theories of conflicts which were used in this study. They
are the causes of the conflicts, theory of mother-daughter relationship which
includes the meaning of daughter relationship and conflict in
mother-daughter relationship.
a) The Causes of the Conflicts
Everything in this world has a cause and an effect. When we do
something, we have to know the consequences of doing this. In conflict, there is
also cause and effect. Conflict does not exist if there is no cause. Gillin and Gillin
(260) state, “Conflict is a social process in which individuals or groups seek their
ends by directly challenging the antagonist by violence or threat of violence.”
There are four roots of conflict which Gillin and Gillin (633 – 644) state. The first
has unique characteristics that are different one from another. These different
characteristics may lead to different points of view of almost every thing.
Different perceptions then may lead to conflicts or clashes. This is where
problems emerge.
The second is cultural differences. They do not only prevail within our own society, but they also prevail outside our society. People live in society and
there are so many cultures we can find in our society. Every culture has its own
characteristic too. These cultural differences often make people misjudge another
culture so that it may form conflicts between individual and also between groups.
The third is clashing interests. Because everyone has different and special characteristic, he or she can have interests on different thing too. Because
everyone has different interest, it may be a source of conflict.
The fourth is social change. Social change may change and separate people into group which can cause competition. It can cause conflict. For
example, if there is migration, economy change, trend, heredity status, social
mobility, and frontier society, they can cause conflict.
Besides, the elements of culture are developed by the society. Baron and
Byrne (9-13) state that social behavior is shaped by a seemingly endless list of
variables. They added some number of major specific cultural factors influencing
someone’s behavior that have possibility to raise conflict and clash between one
The first is the behavior and characteristics of other person. The importance of one’s position in the society can strongly affect his/her behavior.
For example, an employer will easily influence his/her servant by considering that
the employer has higher position than the servant. The behavior and
characteristics, which are not everyone have, could raise conflict if there is no
understanding.
The second is the social cognition (one’s thoughts, attitudes, and inferences about other people around him/her). It is the aspect that affects one’s
thoughts, attitudes, ideas, and judgments on other people. If someone has a good
judgment on other people, then he/she may follow or imitate others’ behavior. If
there are different thoughts and each person stands on his/her own thought
without receiving others, there will be clash.
The third is an ecological variable. The term ‘ecological variable’ refers to the social ecological circumstances around an individual such as the condition
of the environment, the house, the city, etc. For example, if a person lives in a
place where he/she feels comfortable, he/she will likely have an unchanged
behavior. On the other hand, if a person lives in the place where he/she feels hard
to live, then he/she may have certain behavior that leads him/her to change the
condition to be better. If a person cannot accept where he/she is, it can be a
conflict inside and outside him/her.
The fourth is the sociocultural context in which a social behavior
accept the norms and regulations and be fair, everything can be alright, but if
people cannot accept the norms and regulations, it can raise conflict.
The fifth is the aspect of one’s physical condition in relevance with
social behavior. The last is the physical condition of the person him/herself. His/her ability to accept any social information will help him/her to change his/her
old behavior and subsequently imitate or adopt another behavior from the society.
However, if he/she does not have the ability to accept any social information, it
can raise clash.
Conflict can also happen in family relationship. Noller and Fitzpatrick (98)
say that conflict occurs in a family because the family members hold a difference
between them. It can be different opinions, attitudes, needs, and also goals. Noller
and Fitzpatrick (99) add that when the members of the family do not agree about
the situations in their lives such as one’s behaviour, one’s opinions, etc, there is a
conflict. Disagreement can raise clash and conflict. That is why agreement is
needed in a family relationship, as simply between mother and father.
b) Theory of Mother-Daughter Relationship
The theory of mother-daughter relationship is divided into two parts. They
are the meaning of mother-daughter relationship and conflicts in mother-daughter
relationship.
1) Meaning of Mother-Daughter Relationship
The strongest parents-children relationship is the relationship between
daughter’s identification with her mother is important for her emotional and moral
development. The mother plays a role as a model for her daughter’s later feminity.
In Chinese, a woman is expected to be closer to her mother than her father (Hsu
63). As a matter of fact it would be regarded as unusual if a woman is closer to
her father than her mother. A mother would have much more to teach the younger
woman than a father.
2) Conflicts in Mother-Daughter Relationship
Deutsch (322) states that a daughter’s identification with her mother is
important for her emotional and moral development. A mother will play a role as
the source of identification of her daughter, who later will likely develop her
mental and moral according to her perspective toward her mother.
Mother-daughter relationship is not always in harmony. Sometimes there may be some
misunderstandings and conflicts which may affect the relationship and create a
gap between them.
Noller and Fitzpatrick (267) say that woman is more likely to see the
relationship with her mother as a negative one. Woman sees her mother as a
critical, controlling, and demanding person while man usually idealizes his
mother. This different exists because of the mother’s attitudes towards her
daughter and son. The mother expects more from her daughter but shows less
appreciation on her daughter’s efforts. In contrast, the mother expects less from
Furthermore, they describe the mother-daughter relationship as complex,
ambivalent, and ambiguous (268). The relationship is characterized by love and
hate, high expectation but low appreciation, and high stress. However, the
daughter still concerns about her mother although their relationship is not close
and warm.
Nadeau states that there are some causes of conflict that make the daughter
feel not comfortable and want to live separately with her mother. First is the unclear individual boundary between a mother and her daughter. Second is
the freedom that the daughter wants but the mother does not agree with. A daughter usually has wants that sometimes different with what her mother wants.
It can raise clash and it can result bad attitude from the daughter to her mother.
Third is the different view in their life. A daughter and a mother have different view in their life and as the younger generation, the daughter does not want to
listen to her mother. She thinks that her mother does not understand what she
wants. Forth is the teachings from the mother. A mother teaches how to behave, how to dress, how to talk, how to walk, and many good things but not all these
good things are accepted by the daughter well. The daughter usually hates it and
wants to do it by her own way.
Besides, Deutsch (222) also explains the causes of conflict between
mother-daughter relationships. First, the conflict arises because the daughter
considers her mother as rival in getting her father’s attention and love. The daughter feels that her father loves her mother more than to her. It can be seen
daughter it can be a symbol that her father does not love her and love her mother
most. Second, the conflict arises because of the mother’s authoritarian power
over her daughter. When the daughter finds her freedom and becomes independent, her mother feels abandoned and is afraid of losing her daughter. As
the result, her mother uses her authoritarian power over her daughter and it causes
the conflicts between them become more complicated.
C. Review on Chinese Culture in Contrast with American Culture
Culture is the socially learned ways of living found in human societies and
that it embraces all aspects of social life, including both thought and behavior
(Harris 19). Culture is learned automatically. When people were born, they
already had their own culture and it cannot be denied.
Culture is not a thing, even a system. It is a set of transactions, processes, mutations, practices, technologies, institutions, out of which things and events are produced, to be experienced, lived out and given meaning and value to in different ways within the unsystematic network of differences and mutations from which they emerged to start with (During 6).
Culture cannot be programmed as a system because it is granted. Culture
refers to ways of thinking and doing passed down from generation to generation
(Kane 162). Generation to generation means father and mother and their children
and then the children and their daughter and son, and so on. For example, if the
grandmother is a Chinese, the grandchild usually has the same culture as a
Chinese person too. A Chinese person cannot be Americans if he or she does not
According to Hsu (257), culture in Chinese thinks about personality.
Culture must be considered the dominant factor in establishing the basic
personality types for various societies and also in establishing the series the status
personalities which are characteristics for each society (Hsu 257). Nanquin and
Warski (80) state that woman in China is inferior than man. Since they are
children, Chinese women have been bearing lots of expectation from the society.
For example, at the age of five or six binding of young girls’ feet begin and it
brings suffering to Chinese women, and also the cultural idea in China remains
the isolation of women in the inner apartment as much as possible.
As Kearney (20) states that in America, women have the same right as
men. Especially in education, there is no sex discrimination. Women have the
same right to get good education. This is as well as people with low social status
have the same right as people with high social status in many life parts in
America. According to McClosky and Zaller (123), people in America have the
same chance and opportunity in any aspects of life.
In Chinese, mother supervises every movement of the infant and freely
feeds it whenever it demands. The father’s authority over male and female
children functions differently. With the son the disciplinary relationship is direct,
while discipline over his daughter is applied by his wife, acting as his agent. As
Anshen (83) states, “The mother-daughter relationship has always been a close
one in China.”
According to Kearny (20), individual freedom is believed as the most
the family life. In an America family, no one is in control of. When the children
are younger they are usually controlled by their parents, but when they are
considered as mature, they have their own right to have their own decision. In
America, children speak with confidence in front of adults. They do not have any
fear or shyness but they enjoy the relationship because they are brought up in
American liberal ways. Children in America are free to develop themselves.
Americans are equal in their relationship with people, regardless of their age,
wealth, or social position.
Marriages in China are arranged by the matchmaker. The matchmaker has
a hard job to arrange the engagement for the two families. Here, the matchmaker
has to consider the social status of the two families, economical, and personal
factors such as family wealth and individual character. According to Smith (255),
Chinese marriage is literary ‘made in Heaven’, and therefore the eight characters
that marked the time of birth for the bride and groom has to be compliable.
Ancestors are consulted at various diviners whose prosperous days for various
virtual acts connected with marriage. About marriage, Anshen (75) says that in
traditional China, marriage might be determined even before the prospective life
partners were born. It began with no courtship but with an agreement between two
pairs of parents.
In comparison with American culture, Anshen (84) also states that though
romantic love in marriage has been emphasized by a majority of the younger
generation, most Chinese marriages seem to lack the warmth, the feeling of sexual
the United States. According to Sirjamaki (57), in America, when a man and a
woman marry, they form an association unlike any other society. The relationship
is close and full of intimacy. They fashion a life together marked by constant
companionship, mutual loyalty, and sexual gratification. Sirjamaki (57) also states
that marriages in America should be based on mutual affection and free choices of
spouses. Sirjamaki (67) states that in America, persons have to meet and know
each other before they can marry. In America, boy and girl meet somewhere in the
places and events of their community, and date each other. Dating is important
way to know each other and to develop between the unmarried persons (Sirjamaki
61). By dating, persons can know the character each other and decide what they
should do in the next step. If the dating matures into courtship, finally, they decide
to marry and become formally engaged (Sirjamaki 65).
Meyer (42) states that the Chinese is considered as superstitious people,
for supernatural things influence their daily life. The Chinese has never made the
separation between myth and reality as Westerners do. They believe that
everything that happens is the result of their obedience to their ancestors or gods
in the past.
Chinese people believe that ghost could help them in anything (137).
Ghost will tell any best thing they should do in their life. Nanquin and Rawski
(81) add that in China, after death, the spirit of deceased relatives (representing by
wooden tablets) are cared for by their descendant on a daily basis supplemented
death. In Chinese, the superstition has become a part of the culture. Most of
people who live in modern way lost their traditional way of life.
Bloomfield (187) explains more that Chinese people have so many ways
to understand their future. It can come from fortune-teller or many other things
like the ghost of great-grandparents, etc. They may know what job is suitable for
them (229), what way to avoid bad luck, what food should be eaten and not to be
eaten to make good harmony in their life (269), and many more. By believing the
myth, the way of worship, the way of connected with died people, and many other
spiritual things, they believe that their life will be easier and comfortable. There
are none who are able to disturb them and their house is clean from bad things.
They keep their tradition to keep their balance in life and keep happy.
According to Bloomfield (85), comparing with Chinese people, it seems
that there are no other communities, including American, which strongly connect
with dead people and ghost. Chinese people strongly keep their belief and their
traditional practice and they can bring it until this century in Australia, England,
even Canada. Kearny (26) states that one of the American values is hard working.
American people tend to be hard working to achieve their wealth and their
economic development. American people do not believe in superstitious or
supernatural things as Chinese people but they believe in hard working, effort, and
D. Theoretical Framework
There are some theories applied in order to answer the problem formulated
in this study. First, theory of critical approach which is theory of sociocultural
approach is used to analyze the problem. In analyzing mother-daughter
relationships and their conflicts, I use some theories and reviews from Noller and
Fitzpatrick, Deutsch, and Hsu. These two novels are about mother-daughter
relationships and their conflicts, so it is important to know the basic theories of
mother-daughter relationships and why conflicts raise in order to get better
understanding.
In analyzing the cultural conflicts, I use some theories from Gillin and
Gillin, Baron and Byrne, Noller and Fitzpatrick, Deutsch, and Nadeau. This study
concerns on the effects of the cultural conflicts on the mother-daughter
relationships as seen in the two novels. It is important to know the basic theories
of conflict in culture, in family, and specifically in mother-daughter relationship.
In analyzing the culture, I apply several theories and reviews from Harris,
Kane, During, Hsu, Smith, Anshen, Meyer, Nanquin and Rawski, and Bloomfield.
These reviews on culture helped me analyze the effects of the cultural conflicts on
the mother-daughter relationships. Moreover, these reviews on culture are
expected to help the readers to understand the novels because Chinese and
22
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter contains three parts. They are objects of the study, approach
of the study, and method of the study. The objects of the study concern the novels
analyzed namely The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Joy Luck Club. The
approach of the study deals with the approach used in analyzing these two novels.
The method of the study presents the steps in doing this research.
A. Objects of the Study
The objects of the study are The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Joy Luck
Club written by Amy Tan. The Bonesetter's Daughter, published in 2001, is Amy
Tan's fourth novel. It consists of 403 pages. This novel deals with the relationship
between an American-born Chinese woman and her immigrant mother. The
Bonesetter's Daughter is divided into two major stories. The first part of the novel
tells about Ruth, a Chinese-American woman living in San Francisco. LuLing, her
mother, seems to be increasingly forgetful, and often makes bizarre comments
about her family and her own past. Ruth has “neglected” her mother for a moment
because she thinks that her mother was so different even in their perception about
life. Ruth feels that they cannot go along as mother and daughter. In many things
they do not understand each other and Ruth herself cannot understand her mother
and how she thinks. However, in the end of the first story, Ruth tries to understand
becomes so strange. She becomes aware because of her mother’s sickness and she
feels that she loves her mother.
The second part of the novel is about LuLing herself, as written for Ruth.
Several years earlier, LuLing had written out her life story in Chinese. She told
about her experiences and all things she experienced in Chinese language. Ruth
arranges to have the document translated into English and learns the truth about
her mother's life in China. World War II in this novel split between the “then” of
1930s and 1940s China and the “now” of 1990s San Francisco.
The second novel, The Joy Luck Club, published in 1989 as the first novel
of Amy Tan,consists of sixteen interlocking stories. It consists of 332 pages. It is
about the lives of four Chinese immigrant women and their four American-born
daughters. The stories told in this novel revolve around the Joy Luck Club (mah
jong games group) women and their daughters. There are Suyuan Woo and Jing-mei Woo, Lindo Jong and Waverly Jong, An Mei Hsu and Rose Hsu Jordan, and
Ying-ying St. Clair and Lena St. Clair. One series of stories focuses on Suyuan
Woo, who comes to America in 1947. She had lost her family, including her twin
daughters, during war. She does not know that her daughters were rescued. She is
remarried and settles in San Francisco. She has a daughter, Jing-mei (June) and
starts a Joy Luck Club similar to the one in China with three other women. The
four form strong friendship.
Actually in 1949, the four women immigrants meet at the First Chinese
women has her own view of the world based on her experiences in China and
wants to share that vision with her daughter. As she grows up, Jing-mei and her
mother often struggle to understand each other.
Not only Jing-mei but all of the daughters (Waverly, Rose, and Lena) try
to understand and appreciate their mothers' pasts, adapt to the American way of
life, and win their mothers' acceptance. Jing-mei and her mother never completely
resolve their differences and problems, and Suyuan dies unexpectedly. At the next
meeting of the Joy Luck Club, her mother’s friends tell Jing-mei that Suyuan’s
twin daughters have been found. They give her a check so she can visit them.
As the novel ends, she meets her twin sisters in Shanghai. This novel also
describes how the relationship between the mothers (Suyuan, An Mei Hsu, Lindo,
and Ying-ying) with their mother. It tells their past experience about family
(especially with their moms). Most of them have bad experience and bad example
of family, which could be the cause of the bad relationship between them and
their daughter.
B. Approach of the Study
In analyzing the work, I apply the approach that helped me found out the
answer to the problem. In this study, I used sociocultural approach. Acccording to
Rohrberger Woods Jr. (6 – 15), sociocultural approach deals with the reference of
social and cultural background of literary work. The critics of this approach
believe that it is necessary to investigate the society and culture in which a work
Every people have their own culture. Cultural conflicts happen in the
society. Because sociocultural approach is approach which deals with society and
culture, it is appropriate to use sociocultural approach in this study. Sociocultural
approach is used to analyze the effects of the cultural conflicts on the
mother-daughter relationships.
C. Method of the Study
I used some procedures. Library research was used in gathering data. A
collection of articles, journals, critical essays, and other available printed matters
were gathered from libraries as well as electronic resources. Amy Tan’s The
Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Joy Luck Club serve as the primary or main data.
Other sources were collected to gain data and facts on Chinese culture. Some of
the secondary sources are most on the books of culture (especially in Chinese one)
like Theories of Culture in Postmodern Times by Marvin Harris and Under the
Ancestors’ Shadow by Francis L.K. Hsu and the books of sociology.
There were some steps that I did in doing this research. First was reading
the novels, which are The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Joy Luck Club by Amy
Tan. Second was deciding the subject would be discussed (mothers-daughters
relationship which affected by Chinese culture). Third was formulating the
problem formulation. Forth was finding the theory and preferences. Fifth was
deciding the method. Sixth was analyzing the problems related to the theories,
preferences, and evidences from the two novels. Seventh was answering the
26
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter is the analysis of the novel The Bonesetter’s Daughter and
The Joy Luck Club. In this part, I tried to analyze the question formulated in the
problem formulation section. There are two steps in analyzing the problems. They
are the causes of the conflicts and the cultural conflicts between the Chinese and
American cultures described in the novel and the effects of the cultural conflicts
on the mother-daughter relationships. Because the novels compared here were
written by one person (Amy Tan), I used TBD as the abbreviation for The
Bonesetter’s Daughter and TJLC as the abbreviation for The Joy Luck Club.
A. The Causes of the Conflicts
Gillin and Gillin (260) state, “Conflict is a social process in which
individuals or groups seek their ends by directly challenging the antagonist by
violence or threat of violence.” The conflicts found in these novels are cultural
conflicts that give effects to the mother-daughter relationships. There are four
roots that Gillin and Gillin state that conflicts have. In these novels, there are three
causes or roots why cultural conflicts happen.
The first is individual differences. Gillin and Gillin say, “Individual differences give different points of view and provide disparities which lead to
These individual differences result in different point of view of each thing for
each person and this different perception of things that can ignite clashes.
Basically they have different ways of communication, resulting in conflicting
attitudes.
Communication is not always easy between mothers and daughters. When
the mothers think they are doing the right things for their daughters, their actions
are often perceived as wrong in the daughters’ eyes. No matter how good the
mothers’ intentions are, misperception occurs, which often leads to clashes
between them. In The Joy Luck Club, Jing-mei experiences it with her mother,
Suyuan. She thinks that her mother “pushes” her to do this and that and she fed up
with it.
“You want to me to be someone that I’m not!” I sobbed. “I’ll never be the kind of daughter you want me to be!”
“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!”
“Then I wish I wasn’t your daughter. I wish you weren’t my mother,” I shouted. (TJLC 153)
While the mothers think that their daughters turn rebellious, the daughters cannot
understand their mothers’ actions and see those actions as strange.
The second is cultural differences. Not only from inside, differences could come up from outside of us. People live in society with various unique
cultures. For example, there is a culture of a community who speak in a high tone
and a loud voice, but there is also another community who speak in a low tone
and a soft voice. Miscommunication can occur when the two are meeting each
rude or impolite. This misjudgment can lead to conflicts between individuals or
even groups. In these novels cultural differences are the basic problems that lead
to many other problems. Different cultural backgrounds that exist between the
mothers—who have been brought up in the Chinese culture—and their
daughters—who have been brought up in the American culture—become the
source of the problems as they have completely different ways of thinking. This
makes them unable to understand each other.
Ruth feels that she is American but she is not allowed by her mother to do
what she wants in her country, America as stated in The Bonesetter’s Daughter,
“I’m an American,” Ruth shouted. “I have a right of privacy, to pursue my own
happiness, not yours!” (TBD 158). This belief makes Ruth angry with her mother.
She thinks that her mother cannot understand her.
The third is social change. Social change may separate people into groups which can cause competition and conflict. This social change problem happens in
the mothers’ side. The mothers who are Chinese but live in America keep their
Chinese culture and do not try to adapt to the new culture—American—of the
country where they live, while the daughters who are American-born and live in
America live with American culture. It indirectly separates them into two groups.
Both of them keep their culture strongly and it causes conflicts.
hopes they couldn’t begin to express in their fragile English. Or at least, my mother recognized the numbness in these women’s faces. And she saw how quickly their eyes moved when she told them her idea for the Joy Luck Club. (TJLC 6-7)
Besides, the elements of culture are developed by the society. Baron and
Byrne (9-13) state that social behavior is shaped by a seemingly endless list of
variables. They added five specific cultural factors influencing someone’s
behavior that have possibilities to raise conflicts and clashes between one to
another. However, in this novel there are only four things that exist in the society
that the mothers are not aware of and do not try to adapt to.
The first is the behavior and characteristics of American people. The importance of one’s position in the society can strongly affect his or her behavior.
On one hand, the daughters do not understand their mothers’ behavior and
characteristics. On the other hand, the mothers, who keep their Chinese culture
strongly, do not try to adapt to the new culture that affects their daughters’
behavior and characteristics. Their refusal to adapt might be the result of their
inability to understand the behavior and characteristics of American people. In
this context, the mothers are not aware of the behavior and characteristics of
American people. However, they even think that what American people do is
strange and Chinese is the best. They keep their culture strongly without trying to
adapt.
The second is the social cognition (one’s thoughts, attitudes, and inferences about other people around him or her). It is the aspect that affects one’s
thoughts, attitudes, ideas, and judgments on other people. If one has a good
However, if one cannot accept the other’s thought that is different from his or
hers, there will be a clash. There are different thoughts and person stands on
his/her own thought without accepting others’ thoughts, there will be a clash. The
mothers in these novels do not try to understand the thoughts or attitudes of
American people. They are aware of the American culture, but they do not want to
adapt. The mothers should be able to see good values which exist in the American
culture which not only affect American people’s thoughts and attitudes, but also
affect their daughters’.
The third is an ecological variable. The term ‘ecological variable’ refers to the social ecological circumstances around an individual such as the condition
of the environment, the house, and the city. The mothers do not accept the
American circumstances. They behave as if they were in China. They speak in
Chinese most of the time and they make the daughters feel that they are strange.
The fourth is the sociocultural context in which a social behavior
occurs. Such factors as cultural norms and regulations will affect one’s behavior. Societal standards or values shifting can influence one’s behavior. If people can
accept the norms and regulations and be fair, everything can be alright, but if
people cannot accept the norms and regulations, it can raise conflicts. The mothers
cannot accept the American norms and regulations. In America people have more
freedom. However, the mothers do not try to tolerate this freedom value. They
strongly hold their Chinese culture such as their belief in superstition, their
figure. Their intolerance of the American freedom leads to disagreement with
their daughters.
Conflict can also happen in a family relationship. Noller and Fitzpatrick
(98) say that conflict occurs in a family because the family members hold a
difference between them. It can be different opinions, attitudes, needs, and also
goals. Noller and Fitzpatrick (99) conclude that when the members of the family
do not agree about the situations in their lives such as one’s behavior, or one’s
opinions, there is a conflict. Disagreement can raise clash and conflict. That is
why agreement is needed in a family relationship, as between mother and
daughter. The mothers and the daughters in these novels completely disagree with
each other. They have different opinions, attitudes, and all of these make them
live in conflict with each other.
B. The Cultural Conflicts and The Effects on The Mother-Daughter Relationship
Culture is the socially learned ways of living found in human societies and
it embraces all aspects of social life, including both thought and behavior (Harris
19). As according to Gillin and Gillin (633), there are four kinds of conflict. The
first root of conflict is individual differences. The second is cultural differences.
The third is clashing interests. The forth is social change.
There is only one major conflict in these novels. It is cultural differences.
The cultural conflicts between Chinese and American culture could be seen from
the problem in attitude. The problem in attitude includes four things, namely
being superstitious, boasting habit, the conflicting response on marriage’s
different perception, and the conflicting response on mother figure’s different
perception.
1. The Problem in Communication
The first problem of cultural conflict here is in communication.
Communication has important role in a relationship. Without good
communication, the relationship will not work well. If one person tries to talk
with his or her will without considering other people’s ability to understand, there
will be miscommunication. Communication cannot be “pushed” to someone. We
cannot expect that other people can understand our language or understand what
we want without understanding what we talk about or share.
In this context, the daughters, who live in America and use English,
sometimes are confused with their moms’ language and their moms’ wants.
Chinese mothers usually cannot speak English fluently and very often use Chinese
language at home or wherever they are. Problems are still raised as seen in these
two novels. Problems in communication occur between mothers and daughters
and also between mothers and other people (community). Problems of
communication can be raised because of some differences such as different
languages, different backgrounds, different ways of thinking, different characters,
different perceptions, which caused by different cultures. The other reasons are
In The Bonesetter’s Daughter, LuLing is so different from her daughter,
Ruth, in terms of their educational backgrounds, ways of thinking, characters,
perceptions, and ages. She tends to speak Chinese with her daughter wherever
they are. The problem is Ruth speaks English fluently while her mother doesn’t.
Ruth then becomes the “interpreter” and “translator” for her mom. LuLing likes to
speak Chinese in front of other people whether it is to ask or to talk about bad
things of the persons they are with.
Ruth remembered how she felt when she was their age. She too has resented LuLing’s speaking Chinese in front of others, knowing they couldn’t understand her covert remarks. “Look how fat that lady is,” LuLing might say. Or, “Luyi, go ask that man to give us better price.” If Ruth obeyed, she was mortified. And if she didn’t, as she now recalled, even more dire consequences followed. (TBD 76)
People should not talk about someone else behind his or her back and the
polite way to talk is by using the language everybody knows. Although LuLing
cannot speak well, she can speak English a little. She is able to speak English
because she has lived in San Francisco for some time and her ex-husband is
originally from America. What LuLing does as stated above “disturbs” Ruth. She
does not feel comfortable with her mother’s ways of saying things or expressing
herself. Ruth also feels angry and uncomfortable with her when she speaks
Chinese in front of her American friends. Ruth feels that her mom just wants to
embarrass her by doing that kind of thing.
Because of this problem, they do not have good relationship. Ruth and
LuLing have different ways of communicating that makes it difficult for them to
say what they really want to. They do not realize that this communication problem
actually becomes the basic problem and it raises more problems. Ruth remembers
that when she was eight years old, she told LuLing what the right way to say
something and LuLing became so angry.
“It’s ‘grapefruit,” eight-years-old Ruth once said, exasperated, “not ‘grapefoot.’ It’s a fruit, not a foot.”
That night, LuLing started teaching her the mechanics in writing Chinese. Ruth knew this was punishment for what she had earlier. (TBD 57)
The punishment and the reaction her mother does when she tries to teach
English to her mother correctly makes Ruth aware if she should talk with her
mother. Ruth and LuLing have difficulty in communication one to another.
Ruth wanted to know right away, but she could not ask her mother. She knew from experience what happened whenever she asked her mother to render Chinese characters into English. First, LuLing scolded her for not studying Chinese hard enough when she was little. And then, to untangle each character, her mother took side routes to her past, going into excruciating detail over the infinite meanings of Chinese words: “Secrets not just mean cannot say. Can be hurt-you kinda secret, or curse-you kind, maybe do you damage forever, never can change after that…” And then came rumbling about who told the secret, without saying what the secret itself was, followed by more rambling about the person had died horribly, why this had happened, how it could have been avoided, if only such and such had not occurred thousand years before. (TBD 14)
Ruth is not fluent in Chinese and LuLing is not fluent in English. This
difference makes them cannot understand each other. Ruth even thinks that her
mother’s lack of ability in English is one of the causes of the problem between
got into fight mainly because of her poor English. She didn’t understand others, or
they didn’t understand her” (TBD 49).
In The Joy Luck Club, Lindo and Ying-ying seem to be very proud of their
Chinese culture. Lindo likes to commend the Chinese culture and criticize the
American culture as stated in The Joy Luck Club, “Chinese people do many
things,” she said simply. “Chinese people do business, do medicine, and do
painting. Not lazy like American people. We do torture. Best torture” (TJLC 92).
Besides, Ying-ying always talks in Chinese to everyone, even to her husband
(Clifford) who is not a Chinese (English-Irish) (TJLC 112-117). What Clifford
does just guesses what his wife does or asks Lena (their daughter) what her Mom
does or says. It is strange and seems funny but it really happens in this novel.
I could not tell my father what she had said. He was so sad already with this empty crib in his mind. How could I tell him she was crazy?
So this is what I translated for him: “She says we must all think very hard about having another baby. She says she hopes this baby is very happy on the other side. And she thinks we should leave now and go have dinner.” (TJLC 117)
This is one example how Lena used to translate what her mother said to
her father. Lena’s Chinese language learning helps the communication between
Ying-ying and Clifford (TJLC 112). June, Suyuan’s daughter admits that she does
not know her mother very well because of language problem. As stated in The Joy
Luck Club, “My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated
each other’s meaning and I seemed to hear less than what was said, while my
mother heard more” (TJLC 27).
Ruth, Waverly, Lena, and June cannot understand what their mothers
