Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mom, By Amy Tan

   In Amy Tan's novel, Joy Luck Club, the mother of Jing-mei recognizes only two kinds of daughters: those that are obedient and those that follow their own mind. Perhaps the reader of this novel may recognize only two types of mothers: pushy mothers and patient mothers.  The two songs, "Pleading Child" and "Perfectly Contented," which the daughter plays, reinforce the underlying tension in the novel. These songs represent the feelings that the daughter, Jing-mei, has had throughout her life.

Amy Chua is the author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother which was released in 2011. A brief part of her book was written in an article called “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” where she discusses the high expectations that she held her children to. Chua discusses how her very demanding standards would ensure that her children live up to their full potential. Although Chua makes a great argument, she leaves out information that could have helped strengthen her argument and she doesn’t seem to know all of her facts.

The mother-daughter relationships represented in Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club are influenced by many existing factors. Lena St. Clair, Ying-Ying St. Clair’s daughter, is a Chinese-American adult who lives with her forceful husband, Harold. Ying-Ying is a Chinese mother who travelled to America to live a better life after experiencing many hardships in China. Throughout the novel, the relationship between Lena and Ying-Ying is represented as weak and distant. These characters are prevented from having a healthy relationship because they do not support each other, they possess similar characteristics, and they are strong.

In addition to setting, the author uses symbols to strengthen the theme of the story. In the story, the mother buys Jing-mei a piano on which to practice. The mother and Jing-mei have different perspectives on what this symbol means. To Jing-mei, the piano symbolizes her mother trying to change her into something other than herself; however, the piano symbolizes the American dream to her mother. Eventually as Jing-mei ages, she could see her mother’s idea on what the piano means and learns to appreciate the piano. When Jing-mei is a woman, “[she] realized that [“Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contended”] were two halves of the same song” (Tan 9). As Critic Cynthia Becerra states, “the self-realization completes this rich vignette, it is not without pain and loss.(Becerra)” This realization shows how she learns that her mother only has high aspirations for her. The symbolical piano helps the theme by showing the contrasting views between the mother and the daughter in their relationship.

She was my mother,” (31).  Jing-Mei says this to her aunts after her mother had died, and she had to take your position in joy luck.  She felt like she never really knew her mother because of their miscommunication.  Suyuan Woo, Jing-Mei’s mother, had many hopes and good intentions for her daughter. While Jing-Mei wanted to be herself and still please her mother, Suyuan wanted her daughter to be a child prodigy. Always wanting the best for her daughter, Suyuan hoped Jing-Mei would one day become an extraordinary pianist.  Although Jing-Mei played the piano, she never put forth much effort into the music because her best was not good enough for her mother.  Nonetheless, she stopped playing the piano.  “I could only be me,” (154).  She could not be something that she was not; she could not live up to her mother’s expectations.  This symbolized one of Jing-Mei’s songs, “Pleading Child.”  Suyuan continues to put all the pressure on Jing-Mei so that she will not become like her mother for all the reasons she had come to America; hopes for a better life.

Several years ago, Amy Chua’s book: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother has triggered a lively debate about the strict parenting style. In the book, it is mentioned that Chua sets rules and restrictions, such as no sleepovers, practising music instruments every day, etc. As a result, her daughters achieve excellent grades in schools (Goodin ¶2-3). Chua’s parenting style is categorized as authoritarian. In Hong Kong, Chua’s style is popular. Parents put a lot of pressure on their children. Starting from primary level, children are asked to attend extra tutorials. From the parents’ eyes, “Practice makes perfect”. Hence, children will become more competitive. However, westerners oppose her methods. Some believe that giving no freedom to children is not conducive to one’s academic performance.

The book The Joy Luck Club is a novel written by Amy Tan, who is very famous in writing about mother-daughter relationships. There are four pairs of mothers and daughters whose stories are told in The Joy Luck Club. All of the mothers were born in China and came to America because of some kind of problem, but their daughters were born in the United States. Due to the fact that the daughters were born in the United States, they are extremely Americanized. Consequently, they do not value the Chinese heritage which their mothers valued dearly. As the daughters are growing up, this conflict between them increases. Suyuan Woo and her daughter, June or Jing-mei, two characters from the book, had major conflicts over the Chinese belief system of

Also, their relationship is shaped by the pressure Suyuan puts on her daughter. When Jing-Mei was growing up, her mother had the need for her daughter to be smart, talented, and a respectful Chinese daughter. This pressure put on Jing-Mei resulted in misunderstanding between mother and daughter. Jing-Mei constantly believed, “that she was disappointing her mother,” because she felt as if she failed at everything her mother wanted her to do. She believed she could never be as perfect as her mother was. Therefore she doesn’t think she is worthy enough to take her mother’s place at the Joy Luck Club “They must wonder now how someone like me can take my mother’s place” (Tan, 27). Jing-Mei does not understand that her mother wanted the best for her; Suyuan wanted Jing-Mei to challenge herself because that is how one builds up character. Suyuan thinks her daughter could do anything she proposed to do but never put enough effort into anything “Lazy to rise to expectations” (Tan 31). Furthermore, Suyuan forced Jing-Mei to learn how to play the piano and then perform at a recital. Jing-Mei rebelled against her mother and refused to learn how to play the piano well. So, at the recital she ends up forgetting the music notes. Jing-Mei blames her embarrassment on her mother and states,

Both stories investigate the difference between American and Chinese parenting styles from two women’s point of view – Hanna Rosin and Amy Chua.

In the article, “Adapted From Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” Amy Chua, the author, gave some very valid points about how Western children and Chinese children are raised very diversely. Chinese parents are more strict and Western parents are more laid back. Most of the authors points that she made were backed up with statics so they were reliable and valid. There were just a few she didn't back up it was just her opinion. The statements about how the Chinese mothers raise their children are not agreeable or realistic. In all the authors article was valid and had some great points.

In Amy Tan’s story “The Joy Luck Club,” Jing-mei recalls the struggles she is burdened by in not understanding the extensive sacrifices her mother made and the guilt she carries of never living to be her mother’s swan.

Jing-Mei feels differently though, “Unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to. I could only be me,” (359/80) and she was correct for she had no natural musical talent. Jing-Mei has a desire to please her mother, but an even stronger one to choose her own life. She pacifies her mother by going to piano lessons but puts in no effort. Jing-Mei is “…determined to put a stop to her blind foolishness,” (356/48) but her mother’s desire to create a prodigy to compete with Aunt Lindo’s daughter, keeps her focused on the impossible. That is, until Jing-Mei escalates this conflict to its breaking point in rebellion. Stunning her mother, she shouts “Then I wish I’d never been born! I wish I were dead! Like them,” (359/77) referring to the twin daughters her mother lost in China. Sadly, the mother’s desire to have Jing-Mei conform to her expectations creates a constant battle between mother and daughter, and, in rejecting those expectations, seeing disappointment in her mother’s face all too often causes Jing-Mei to feel, “something inside me began to die” (353/18).

In Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Yale professor Amy Chua describes her “Chinese” method of parenting and why Chinese parents are able to raise highly successful children. In the book, she describes her style of teaching and disciplining her children, which caused many readers to take offense. Many people have a serious problem with Chua’s method of parenting; they believe she is much too harsh and even borders on abuse in the way she raises her daughters. In an article published in the New York Times, journalist David Brooks describes how he feels Chua is not allowing her daughters to experience things that are potentially more important than school, such as learning to be social. David Brooks makes an interesting and compelling argument against Chua, and he is right in his opinion that developing social skills is more important than academic success.

Furthermore, Jing-mei discovers, “Old Chong’s eyes were too slow to keep up with wrong notes [she] was playing,”(472). As a result, Jing-mei performs “Pleading Child” miserably at the talent show her parents and all of the members of the Joy Luck Club attended. Jing-mei saw the disapproval and shame on her mother’s face, and decided to stop practicing piano. If Jing-mei’s mother wouldn’t have looked so disappointed and been proud of her daughter Jing-mei wouldn’t have been so discouraged. Jing-mei would’ve still had faith in herself like she did before her performance. “When my turn came, I was very confident. I remember my childish excitement. It was as if I knew, without a doubt, that the prodigy side of me really did exist. I had no fear whatsoever, no nervousness. This is it!” (474). After seeing the dismay in her parents eyes Jing-mei changed her whole outlook on the situation, which weakened Jing-mei’s pride, causing her to fully rebel from being a prodigy. Furthermore, encouraging her to be who she wanted to be.

Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club is a well-known novel that discusses the difficulties that Chinese American immigrants face especially in the second generation. This novel specifically focuses in on the stories of the mothers and their daughters, their sufferings and triumphs. Due to both the generational and cultural differences between the mothers and daughters are extreme and these differences cause their relationship to be strained. I think that one of the critical themes from the book comes from Jing-mei’s chapter. “Only two kinds of daughters. . . those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!”(Tan 1989 142)