Amy Tan and Amy Chua

Before we read The Joy Luck Club, we read an article by some person named Amy Chua. That person was    c-r-a-z-y. No lie. She's more asian than asian people. That's how asian she is.

In The Joy Luck Club's Rules of the Game, Waverly Jong's mother wants Waverly to be protege. Meaning, doing something that will make her like famous or something along that line.

Amy Tan, does a somewhat similar thing with her daughters, wanting them to be something other than not playing piano or violin, if you get what I mean:

"What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences."

I think that Waverly's mom and Amy Chua are similar in a sense that they want their kids to succeed in what they want them to do, not what the kids want themselves to do. Amy Chua went all out and did not let her daughters have any sense of freedom whatsoever. And not letting them do theatre? That's just crossing the line.

Waverly's mom was sort of different when it came to what Waverly wanted to do. Waverly was strong, and she spoke up to her mother when she was doing something that Waverly thought wasn't right, for example, when Waverly's mom was bragging:

"I wish you wouldn't do that, telling everybody I'm your daughter." (99).

That's another thing with Chinese parents, they love to brag about their kids and the things they do, when in reality, it's the parents that make their kids do that. Amy Tan and Amy Chua both somewhat do that, have their kids do what they want them to do, and later play the 'my horse is bigger than yours' game with other Chinese parents.

This section of Joy Luck, along with Chua's article show different sides to Chinese parents. yes parents, and not just moms.