High Allegiance to Culture Is Detrimental to Well-Being - Research Paper Example

Task: High allegiance to culture is detrimental to well-being Amy Tan explores the detriment of uncritical allegiance to culture in his book of The Joy luck club. Culture is defined in terms of music, culinary habits, religion and other aspects. The book solely discusses the American and Chinese culture. Other cultures may appear in the discussion for the vitality of addressing these two cultures. The concept of culture, mostly, derives its meaning out of ethnic and racial inclinations. In this discussion, it is essential to provide a brief background of the author and a synopsis of the whole story. This is vital in bringing out the discrepancies that Amy tries to illuminate in her book. Thereafter, the arguments that prop this statement shall roll out to defend the same. However, the discussion covers the scope of different possibilities to a single situation. Cultures differ in of terms stability, stakeholders and inheritors of the same and awareness of a group about their own culture. While some groups know whatever entails their culture, another group may have a culture without committing to the same. The discussion shall focus on daughter-mother relationships to illustrate the detriment of culture disparities and intolerance on growth of individuals. High allegiance to culture is a detriment to the wellbeing of individuals. This novel is entails the story around four Chinese families that have settled in America. The families are composed of daughters and mothers. Through these characters, the story illuminates the embodiment of culture. The four Chinese families experience their unison by playing their own games and engaging in culinary activities. The Chinese families are in America due to their own various reasons. The first mum in the story dies before the events to the whole plot pick up. Suyuan Woo is a Chinese woman who lives in china with her family and husband. However, the husband is involved way from home in the Second World War. Woo goes through difficult times trying to harness hope for herself and her family. During this war period, she forms the original joy club with a few of her friends. The war escalates and the Japanese invade China. In despair, and before the Joy club matures, Woo sets off with her twin children to escape out of China. On the way, she gets sick and abandons her kids in wait of her own death (Dong 21). Fortunately, a lorry comes by and rescues her before she succumbs. She, then, immigrate into America whereby she remarries (Tan 19). In USA, she encounters her four friends whereby they form another joy club. She bears a daughter known as Jing Mei. Jing Mei is the striving force behind Suyuan’s strength in bearing the loss of her twin children. She succumbs to a disease before she actualizes her hope of meeting her two children. The next character is Lindo. Lindo, too, escaped from China due to her unique reasons. While she was twelve, her society obliges her to marry a sixteen-year old boy. Since they shared little attachment, she decides to flee on the pretext of spiritual grounds. She is domineering character who strives to shape the direction of her daughter’s life (Rosinky 52). Similarly, there exists An Mei who immigrates into America due to her unique reasons. An- Mei grows up as an orphan due to traumatic events that befalls her family. Her mother faces rejection from her first family since she remarries as a concubine to a wealthy man. An- Mei’s mother commits suicide due to trauma she undergoes in her new home. On her mother’s death, she finds her way out of China. During her stay in USA, she marries whereby she has seven children. The last principal character in this story is Ying- ying. Her Chinese family is wealthy and conservative. The family teaches Ying -ying to define her femininity by being demure. However, Ying-ying possesses a strong personality that she hides in order to please her family. She gets to marry a man whom she realizes she does not share an attachment. The husband becomes abusive and; therefore, she entangles herself from the engagements. Thereafter, she immigrates into America and remarries an American man. The first symptom of the detrimental culture in this story concerns An -Mei’s mum. When she marries to her first husband, she meets the misfortune of her husband death. However, a wife of a wealthy man traps her into rape. She is compelled to marry the same man because of Chinese culture complexities. Her suffering does not end in her own household. In the first husband’s family, the community shuns her as a daring person in an evil’s sense. The community tries to convince the daughter that her mother is an evil character even though she makes effort to link with her daughter. In the same scenario, Wu- Tsing possesses cultural superstition about death. In the end, he subjects An Mei’s mum into a plight that he did not consider worthwhile. Finally, An -Mei’s mum commits suicide due to the pressure she receives from both dimensions of her families. An-Mei’s mum fails to take responsibility for her own life. Similarly, there exists a tension between Lindo and Waverly concerning the rift between the cultures. This manifests in Waverly normal life and Waverly’s engagement to an American native (Dong 21). Even though, Waverly loves Rich, Rich is disgusted with Chinese’s seemingly complex culture. The Chinese culture demands that people appreciate one another in a different way. Furthermore, Chinese eating habits are much different from American way of life. Even though Waverly is familiar with the American way of life, she cannot convince her boyfriend to understand the same. Waverly takes her mother to lunch in order to inform Jong of her impending engagement. In spite of that fact, she does not gather the courage to inform her mother because of fear of cold reception of Rich. Culture comes as a constraint to a relationship and the cost of overcoming the barrier is high. In the end, Rich and Waverly decides to have their honeymoon in China in order to harmonize their differences. In addition, Waverly seems to have adopted the American life. Her mother, Lindo, fears of her daughter succumbing to the American life (Rosinky 52). The fear does not possess meaningful intentions. It is rather a protection of a culture that Lindo has not actualized the value. Lindo Jong experiences a loss of the sense of motherhood in having Waverly raised in the American way. Jong is unsatisfied that Jong share of attitudes attributes to the American life. Linda Jong remarks that ‘’ only her skin and hair are Chinese-inside she is all-American’’ (Jong). The tone she uses reflects a feel of loss. Linda Jong feels that Waverly has swum away from her since Waverly’s childhood. In this sense, she taunts Jong, most of the times, to gain her loss. Ying-ying also remarks, “Her name is June, they all go by their American names’’ (Tan 37). This tone is sarcastic in illuminating her disgust with the Chinese losing their naming systems (Tan 37). Ying -ying suffers from the mentality that her Chinese background has imposed upon her. During her childhood, her parents and community encourage her to be demure and submissive. In her real personality, the Chinese system classifies her as a tiger. This means that she possesses a strong personality and that she is outgoing (Rosinky 72). However, in a means to blend with her culture, she chooses to submerge her real nature. When she marries, she encounters an abusive husband who traumatizes her through the relationship. Due to her established beliefs, she believes that she has married this man because a fate dictates so. Ying Ying encounters an American man of whom she is at a loss to relate to properly. The husband finds himself of many aspects off Ying’s life. She begets a child known as Lena. The chain goes on to include Lena as a submissive girl who is in less control of herself. She takes after her mum in hiding her real character. Lena involves herself in an abusive relationship while unaware of the cultural contribution on her situation. Culture comes in as a constraint to communication between parents and their daughters. The Chinese mothers tend to place high expectation on communication to carry the burden of culture (Bloom 43). The Chinese use a system of talk-story to relay certain cultural messages to their children. Their conversations are laden with proverbs and Chinese folk stories to achieve inheritance of values. However, this method of communication is ineffective in the American society. Even though the daughters are born of the Chinese mothers, their culture is mostly American because USA is the context within which they have grown up (Loos 27). In addition, the mothers expect their daughters to, automatically, behave properly. This is because the Chinese system expects children to take up values regardless of one-on- one teaching. These values pass on to children through parables and cultural events. This creates conflict between the two cultures because American communication system seems to require direct talk. Another form of uncritical allegiance to culture regards An Mei’s mum. In chapter two, An Mei narrates the story of her mother and childhood. Her story begins from the moment she was staying with uncles. When her first father dies, she stays with her uncles and aunties since her mother remarries another man. Since Chinese culture seems to frown upon remarriage after death in order to respect the spirit of the dead, An Mei’s community shuns her mother. The community subtly creates a barricade between An-Mei and her mum. Despite the fact that her mum is willing to see her, her community tells her that her mum shares meager concern for her situation. Her mum is under pressure to endure a marriage out of a conspiracy that saw raped by her second husband. An-Mei understands this truth when she lives with her mum. Wu-Tsing receives threat from her first wife concerning her suicide. In addition, Wu Tsing’s wife pressures him to let he have her way of traumatizing An-Mei’s family. The sole contribution to his fear regards fear of the dead (Loos 86). In Chinese culture, it is a belief that the dead are capable of haunting the living. This pressure piles on An-Mei’s mum until she commits suicide. Culture, thus, intertwines to contribute to the end An-Mei’s mum life. High emphasis on culture tends to create situations for contempt. Lena seems not to be satisfied by her mum’s allegiance to her culture. She tries to make her mum sound blend in the American context. One of the constraints that create the situation regards the difference in the two languages. Lena has the responsibility of translating her mum’s words to Clifford St Clair and other people. In the event, she tries to make her mum’s words sound better than they really are (Bella 47). Waverly also seems to despise Lena for her Chinese demeanor. This is illustrated by the taunts that Waverly directs at Lena. In addition, Rich shows intolerance for the Chinese culture when he gets enraged and abuses Jong’s family. In summary, these arguments explain the detriment of uncritical allegiance to culture. Critical culture refers to the culture that has the capacity for tolerance and adaptation in any setting. The discussion provides a summary of the principal characters to aid the aim of the same. The arguments concern relationships and individual receptions towards culture in order to illuminate the constraint of inadaptable culture. The first argument concerns Ying-ying who receives education from her Chinese society that girls should be demure and reserved (Bella 47). This, in turn, limits her outspoken nature to the extent that she infects her daughter with the same. Her daughter stays in abusive relationship because of her inability to rise to demanding situations. In addition, Waverly’s case manifests the detriment of culture. She has intentions to marry American boyfriend. However, she cannot inform her mother of her impending marriage because of fear of reproach from her own mother. Furthermore, there exists the constraint of culture due to high expectations of language to facilitate culture’s inheritance. The mothers use complex language to communicate to their daughters. This is based on the assumption that the daughters will understand their parables and other forms of cryptic language. In addition, An-Mei’s mum case clearly explains how culture can kill individuals. When she remarries to another man, her community shuns her and prevents her from seeing her own daughter. In the end, she resorts to suicide because she can no longer handle the pressure. Culture, thus, should be adaptable and its allegiance should the psychological growth of individuals. Works Cited Adams, Bella. Amy Tan: contemporary world writers. New York, NY: Manchester University Press, 2005.Print. Loos, Pamela. A reader's guide to Amy Tan's the joy luck club: Multicultural Literature. New York, NY: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2008.Print. Dong, Lan. Reading Amy Tan. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2009.Print. Bloom, Harold. The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan. New York, NY: InfoBase Publishing, 2002.Print. Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. New York, NY: Penguin, 2006. Print. Rosinky, Natalie. Amy Tan: Author and Storyteller. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books, 2006. Print. Read More