Conflict of Chinese Mother and Americanized Daughter in The Joy Luck Club

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Influence of Similarities on Lindo/Waverly Mother-daughter Relationship
In most novels, the relationship between mother and daughter is expected to be nurturing and protective. However, Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club, deviates from such a narrative of the relationship between mothers and daughters, with the clash of the Chinese and Western cultures being central to the deviation. One of the relationships presented in the novel is that of Lindo Jong and her daughter, Waverly Jong. The relationship between Waverly and Lindo is complex and strained at times, but it is ultimately one of love and mutual respect. Notably, Waverly and Lindo Jong's frictional relationship can be understood in the view of their similarity in characterization and the values the two hold despite differences in their power dynamic and the era in which they live.
Waverly and Lindo possess a high level of resilience that enables them to overcome their various challenges. Their resilience is symbolized by the wind, which is used as a metaphor throughout the text. In the scene where Lindo is getting married, she reflects on her resilience, noting, "I was strong. I was pure. I had genuine thoughts inside that no one could see and that no one could ever take away from me. I was like the wind (Tan 58)." The thought occurred to Lindo when she was getting married to Tyuan Yu and served as her motivation to help her overcome the shackles of her culture. Throughout the novel, Lindo emerges as a character who has significant control over her destiny, with her inner strength motivating her to come up with ingenious ways to improve her life. Similarly, Waverly relies on resilience to excel at the game of chess. She describes chess as "the game of secrets" and likens her knowledge to a wind that whispers secrets only she can hear (Tan 95). This ability to conceal information enables Waverly to succeed in competitions and triumph over challenges like Lindo. Thus, Waverly is a replica of Lindo in terms of their approach to tackling issues and using their invisible strength to overcome obstacles.
Further, Waverly and Lindo are highly resourceful and can find solutions for the problems they encounter in their lives. When Waverly initially learns about chess, she asks her brothers many questions, as she wants to be good at playing the game. Notably, she ends up having to search for most information about chess on her own when she realizes that the answers were not forthcoming from her brothers and mother. To this end, Waverly relies on resources such as the game manual, the dictionary, and books from the Chinatown library. Her resourcefulness is also evident in her approach to introducing her boyfriend to her mother, where she relies on word of mouth from Suyuan to manipulate her mother into inviting her boyfriend into their home (Tan 176-177). In the same vein, Lindo was highly resourceful, as evidenced by how she extricated herself from the marriage contract with Tyan-Tu. To this end, Lindo came up w...