Joy Luck Club Relationships

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In the book The Joy Luck Club, the theme of relationships between mother and daughter is shown frequently between Suyuan and June. They have a very rocky relationship, but they also show a deep love and commitment for each other. The conflicts June and Suyuan face reveal some of the themes that the author intends for the readers to learn. Their drastic differences in the environments in which they were raised caused them to have many opposing ideas and beliefs. This coupled with their lack of communication is responsible some of the problems they had during their relationship. The conflicts are resolved when June learns about her mother's past and accepts their differences. First, most of the conflicts that June and her mother face are based on the differences of each other. June does not fully understand her mother. This is because she does not know about her mother's horrible past back in China. Suyuan had lost two daughters in China from the war. She left the war behind her and…show more content…
This opened Junes eyes to the good intentions her mother had for her. She realized that her mother was proud of her even though she was not a genius or child prodigy. At a friendly dinner, Waverly humiliated June by stating that the work she had done for her firm was not good enough. June also took the bad crab on the platter. Her mother says to her, "Only you pick that crab. Nobody else take it. I already know this. Everybody else want best quality. You thinking different," (p. 234). Suyuan tried to show her pride in June by giving her a pendant she always wore. The pendant symbolized her life's importance. When Suyuan gives Jing-mei the jade pendant, she says, "See, I wore this on my skin, so when you put it on your skin, then you know my meaning," (pg. 236). She wanted June to know that her life had a meaning. After her mother's death, June starts wearing the necklace every
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