An Mei Chapter Summaries

She says, “You can close your eyes when you no longer want to watch [your life]. But when you no longer want to listen, what can you do?” This question is important as it shows the helplessness An-Mei feels. She asks her question to reveal that she may be able to close her eyes, but she cannot completely numb the agony in her life. Tan also uses rhetorical questions when she admits, “I can still hear what happened more than sixty years ago.” Even though she tried to block out the pain from her life, she will feel it in her heart forever. This once again shows how women living the Chinese way are stuck in a cycle of pain.

Furthermore, the author explores the tone of the novel by providing specific details. In An-mei's childhood story, the author chooses to describe the pain An-mei feels as the soup pours over her by providing details of the twinge. She describes it as "the kind of pain [specially] terrible that a little child should never remember it" and how it still remains "in [An-mei's] skin's memory" (Tan 39). By depicting these details of the pain, Tan expresses the feeling of misery An-mei feels, which appends to the melancholy tone. Additionally, in the story of Ying-ying's first marriage, the author presents explicit details of the emptiness Ying-ying feels by portraying details of her as "a tiger that neither pounce[s] nor lay[s] waiting between the trees" and "an unseen spirit" (Tan 285). This emptiness Ying-ying feels seems to indicate the melancholy tone that appears noticeable in the novel. Clearly, the details Amy Tan chooses to describe in the novel seem to specify the somber tone.

An-Mei spent her childhood without her mother. After her father passed, An-Mei’s mother became the third concubine to a rich man and was excommunicated from the family. An-mei proceeded to live with her uncle. That is, until her grandmother, Popo, began to die. An-Mei’s mother returned, and once Popo passed, An-Mei left to live with her mother. Her uncle called her “‘Swanle!’ -Finished!- ‘She is already changed’” (Tan 243). An-Mei living without her mother can be

trouble and so she would listen to her mother. Anmei’s use of the Twenty-Six Malignant Gates

Wu-Mei struggles about family and relationships. She suffered bullying from her own family. Bullying is the use of force to abuse someone and it has been the problem for Wu-mei from the start which makes her feel unwanted. Her siblings were being aggressive to her because they believe that she was the cause of their mother’s death. There is a quote from the Bible “Do unto others what you want others do unto you” this means that do to others what you want them do to you. In the novel “Chinese Cinderella” Wu Mei is being bullied by her Big Sister by telling her that she is the cause why their mother had died. For e.g. on page 3 chapter 1, Big Sister once said to Wu mei “Mama died giving birth to you. If you had not been born, Mama would still

The mother’s spirit is in the bones which provides the strength. The mother tells her daughter to remember that strength is what motivates you to try harder without strength you are weak and afraid. The mothers lose hope and their innocence while living in China due to the Chinese customs and the actions taken by their male spouses. The mothers would have to listen, obey and devote the rest of their life to their husbands. A daughter, An-mei

When An- Mei was young, she always listened and believed everything people told her. An- mei never once told her point of view to someone because she knew her grandmother, Popo, would find out. She had gotten a scar on her neck from boiling soup of the last time she remembered her mother showing up to the big family dinners. After the would healed, An- mei describes, “The wound begins to close in on itself, to protect what is hurting so much. And once it is closed, you no longer see what is underneath, what started the pain” (Tan 47). During her childhood, Popo always taught her to be strong, and to never admit how emotional she really felt. An- mei believed her experience from getting the scar and her childhood experience were connected.

The book mentions many different areas of China, including Kweilin and Wushi. The settings in this book create a drastic chasm between the mothers and daughters, because the settings in which each generation was raised is completely different. Tan uses each setting to create a different tone for each story. When An-mei discusses her childhood, she

An-mei was raised the Chinese way:  “I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other people’s

An-Mei tells her daughter that even though she did not grow to believe in the Chinese customs such as the wife being completely subservient to the husband and living to please those who are supposedly of higher rank her daughter seems to live under those principles. She encourages her daughter to move away from that system, because it denies her the happiness she shared with her husband. An-Mei and her daughter strayed from the codes of their heritage to find something that “works” for them and may become a new culture over time if it continues to “work”. This idea may be pertinent to women even more so, because many cultures have placed them as inferiors and if it does not “work” for them they should know that it is possible to find another way- their own

Although my mother keeps up with the joneses, always compare me with others children, she might be want to brag to others, but all she wants is me to have a better life. It is same when Jing-Mei grow up, realise that all her mother does is for her own good. When Jing-Mei grow up become an adult, she starts to understand her mother doing all these things is for her welfare. Now I have same feeling with Jing-Mei, feel remorse that being rude and disobedient to my mother. After read this short story, I know sometimes I need to be more polite when I try to express my feelings to my mother.

“Only two kinds of daughters. Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind.” The story goes on to show that we will never be what our parents want us to be. Jing-Mei does not want to be the person that her mom thinks she should be. It goes to show that some parents are trying to take over there kids. The mother watches Shirley Temple, and tries to imagine her daughter like that, being the star child. If the daughter does not want to do something do not make her do it. The mother is just pushing the daughter further away from her.

Providing the two heroines with strong and engaging personalities, the novel portrays the life of two young Chinese girls, who because of historical events and family secrets, have to grow up faster than what they had planned. The book delivers emotional themes that are powerful yet familiar, and is written in a compelling manner.

Jing-mei’s inability to connect with her mother arises from her upbringing. Mrs. Woo pushed Jing-mei to extremes with her parenting and failed to realize the lasting trauma it had on her daughter. Jing-mei as a fragile child wants nothing more than for her “mother and father [to] adore [her]” (233). The developing girl is looking for acceptance through her parents, but Mrs. Woo does not understand the positive reinforcement required in those early stages of development. Instead

Interestingly, the narrator's mother does not apply this believe to herself. This demonstrates that she is attached to Chinese tradition culture that her opportunity in life was gone. She could not envision herself moving ahead. The narrator and her mother have similar history; however they went through a difficult time because they did not believe in the same culture. Furthermore, the narrator and her mother did not get along because they were raised