The story is about a Chinese girl who's mother can't accept her daughter as she is and always requires her to be perfect and wants her to become a prodigy.
1. How does Amy Tan represent the mother's dialect of english?
-Amy presents the mom's dialect as a typical Chinese woman's dialect in English: little bit poor, but still understandable. For example she quotes the mom as follows: "You can be best anything" or "Turn off TV"
2.What motivates Jing-Mei to try become the prodigy her mother wants?
-Jing-Mei tries to be the prodigy her mom wants her to be because she wants to make her mom proud and be accepted by her parents like children usually do. I think that she also thinks that without becoming a prodigy, her mom won't love her as much as she would if she'd become one.
3. How would you describe the character of the mother?
-I think that Jing-mei's mother was really strict, intent and demanding. Her intentions were essentially good, but she acted wrong. She wanted her daughter to be successful in her life but instead of loving her just the way she was and encouraging her daughter to find her own ways to express herself, she forced her to practice things that she did not like. Jing-Mei's mom had a rough life and didn't want Jing-Mei suffer the same fate. The strictness of the mother occurs in many parts of the text. For example: The scene where she tries to force Jing-Mei to play piano even after the unsuccessful performance. The intentness came up right at the beginning when she repeatedly told her nine year old daughter that she would become a prodigy. At the end we got to see the softer and the more loving side of Jing-Mei's mom when she offered her the piano.
4. The narrator speaks as one who looks back on her childhood. She now realizes that she could have become a good pianist. What does she indicate about why she was lazy in her practice habits as a child?
-At the end the narrator realizes that she could have become a good pianist but she was too lazy as a kid because of her mom and the pressure that her mom was putting on her. The constant "you have to be best" talk made her not to want to be the best and the pressure made her not to try her best. She wanted to show her mom that she couldn't be changed.
5. What is ironic about Jing-Mei's daydreams?
-When she was little, she dreamed of being perfect and that her parents would adore her and that became ironic later because her mom wanted the same all the time. She wanted her to be perfect, but after awhile Jing-Mei was tired of all of the pressure and trying to be perfect all the time and so she did not want to try anymore. She didn't want to be perfect anymore. And so she quit trying all the time.
6. What are Jing-Mei's feelings before her performance? how about after? what does happen?
-Before her Schumann's piece performance she was feeling really confident and exited and she thought that maybe she'll become a prodigy after all. The performance fails. She plays all the wrong notes in front of all of her family and friends. Her confidence, excitement and hope are gone and the feeling of shame and nervousness replace the positive feelings that she had just awhile ago.
7. What do you think about Jing-Mei's interpretation of her parents' reasons for sitting trough the rest of the show? how about her own?
-Jing-Mei thought that her parents were anchored to their chairs because of their pride and sense of honor, and she herself was sitting in the chair because of the shame and embarrassment that she felt.
8. How is the mother-daughter conflict resolved?
-The mother-daughter conflict is never resolved properly. They just never talk about it again and they act like it never happened. Like everything was normal. I think that the unresolved conflict disturbs both of them for a long time. After many years Jing-Mei feels that her mother finally forgives her for the things that she sayid when the mom offers her the piano.
9. What does Jing-Mei imply in the last sentence?
-At the last sentence Jing-Mei realizes that the two songs she has been playing separately (Pleading child and Perfectly contented) are two halves of the same song. I think that at this point she maybe finally realizes that her mothers strictness in her childhood had made her the person that she was at that point and that now she was perfectly pleased with herself just the way she was. I think that she also realized that if you really want something and you try your best, you can reach it. Even if your not the best of all.
+10. The writer of this short story, Amy Tan, is an American (her parents are Chinese) writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. Being an artist had always been a dream of Amy's and she finally fulfilled that dream by starting to write at the age of 33. Her first short story was published when she was 34, and three years later, she published her first book, a collection of short stories called The Joy Luck Club. Her work has been translated into thirty-five languages, from Spanish, French, and Finnish to Chinese, Arabic, and Hebrew.
Amy Tan
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