depiction of women blogtizzle
In response to the question regarding the depiction of women in the novel, I agree wholeheartedly with Lauren in that it’s shown most apparently through the mother-daughter relationships in the story. To speak generally, the story can be seen as a depiction of the positive influence a mother can have on a daughter, which is seen throughout the story in the relationships between all four Chinese women and their Americanized daughters. The book also highlights some of the struggles that women face, both from the perspective of the mothers and the daughters. Through the narrative, struggles such as rape, death, and war are highlighted as struggles of the Chinese mothers, while the daughters deal with such issues as the struggle for love, happiness, and acceptance.
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Hey Lou,
Posted May 3, 2007, 11:26 pmI wholeheartedly agree with you. It is really interesting to see how the issues facing the Chinese mothers differ so greatly from the issues facing their American daughters. While the mothers’ issues tend to be of a greater nature (rape, death and war), I think this most likely resulted from the fact that they lived in China during a time of major political and social unrest. I feel that if their country had had fewer stability issues during their youth, the mothers would have suffered from the same issues as the daughters (love, happiness, acceptance). I do agree, though, that much of their personal differences came from the fact that the mothers were Chinese, while the daughters were a Chinese – American mix. I wonder what was harder for the characters: being one of the mothers, having a solid nationality but one who’s ideals and beliefs differed greatly from where they live, or being one of the daughters, having a confusing mix of nationalities, never allowing them to feel at home no matter where they are?