Smoking Cigarettes :: Argumentative Persuasive Example Essays

Throughout the book, the contravene betwixt the sires, their Chinese tradition, and language and the daughters, their American tradition, and language be evident. Suyuan and Jing-Mei accost are stimulate and daughter, respectively, who are characters that illustrate the conflict between the cardinal cultures. In the beginning of the story, the mothers who play Mahjong tell Jing-Mei to see her bulky lost sisters and tell them of their mother. Jing-Mei replies, "What go out I say? What can I tell them about my mother? I dont know anything. She was my mother. (p31)" Then it occurs to Jing-Mei that "they are frightened" because in her they see "their own daughters, sightly as ignorant, just as unmindful of all the truths and hopes they have brought to America. (p31)" In these quotes, Jing-Mei perceives the gap that occurs between the mothers and daughters. This gap between each mother and daughter is described in later chapters. Jing-Mei Woo, who is cal led June in America, represents her mothers hopes and dreams. Her mothers give away, Suyuan, meaning, "long cherished wish" speaks of this hope for Jing-Mei, whose name means "the pure younger sister (p322-3)". In the beginning, June is excited and dreams of what she will become. "In all my imaginings, I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect. My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the need to sulk for anything (p. 143)." Her mother pushes June into many areas- academics, dance, and the piano. After failing to excel at any of the areas presented to her, she feels handle a failure. She sees all the hopes her mother has for June as expectations. The final conflict comes when June performs a piano piece filled with mistakes at a talent show, which makes June consider that her mother is completely ashamed and disappointed with her. June looked through the crowd to her mothers face. She thought to he rself, "...my mothers expression was what devastated me a quiet, clear look that said she had lost everything." (p. 143) What June did not realize, was that the real reason why her mother was upset was not because she had not lived up to her expectations. She was unhappy because June did not care about having the best for herself. She did not have high hopes or a passion to be successful at anything.