Intergenerational relationships between mothers and daughters are further complicated in The Joy Luck Club as cultural differences come into play for the Chinese immigrant mother of first generation and his Americanized daughter. This is clearly highlighted when Lindo Jong shows off her daughter at the market, announcing "to anyone who looked in her direction" that "this is [her] daughter Wave-ly Jong" (90), but her behavior is only met with resentment from part of Vacillante, wishes her mother “wouldn't do it” (91) and sees accompanying her to the market as a “duty [that] she couldn't avoid” (90). Using this scene, Tan dramatizes mother-daughter tension, as Lindo's older generation Chinese mentality that a child's success is a reflection of good parenting clashes with Waverly's Americanized thinking that success belongs to just one. The daughter's struggle for an identity separate from her mother brings out the idea that the older generation sees mother and daughter as one entity, but through young Waverly's Western perspective, this is a threat to her individuality, evident when he replies to Lindo "if you want to show off, then why don't you learn to play chess” (91). The distance between the couple is twofold, since not only is Lindo older than Waverly, thus causing a generation gap, but she is also from the Old World and brings with it Chinese ways that Waverly is unable to identify with. The first and second generation Chinese Americans are represented through Lindo and Waverly Jong as Tan attributes the lack of understanding between the two as a cultural difference. rather than generational. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Intergenerational tension is also shown through Waverly's difficulty in reconciling and relating to the seemingly mysterious power. of Lindo on her. This is best depicted when Waverly imagines that her mother as a chess opponent is merely "two angry black slits" (92), failing to even give her a proper physical form, but the latter has such great power over her pieces of the chessmen who "screamed as they ran and fell off the board one after another." When Waverly imagines her mother saying "the strongest wind cannot be seen" (92) on the final page of this section, the reader gets the sense that Lindo's mastery of the "art of invisible strength" (80) is incomprehensible to her daughter because logic cannot explain why it is so immense that it can determine the failure or success of her actions on Lindo's part and her omnipotence are, in Waverly's eyes, associated with qualities not only of the older generation, but also of the Old World since she points out that this concept is said “In Chinese” (80). the idea was conceived in ancient China and in those times when Lindo could express it in his native language without the need for translation, as now in America. Here, Tan highlights the seemingly impossible task of bridging the gap between first-generation immigrants and their children as they are like chess opponents with “conflicting ideas” (85). With undertones of intergenerational relationships, the feminist notion of mothers empowering daughters is highlighted as Lindo imparts the rules of life to Waverly. When Lindo teaches Waverly “the art of invisible strength” (80), the latter only realizes the truth in her mother's teaching when she begins playing chess at an older age as she “finds that throughout the.
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