Amy Tan and Amy Chua

In the current day and age, different styles of traditional parenting can be seen very typically by ethnicity. The “Chinese” method, dubbed by Amy Chua as “Tiger Mom” parenting, revolves around the usage of strict, rule-based tactics to instill a constant obedience in the child. Another writer, Amy Tan, shows agreement in her book, The Joy Luck Club.

In “Two Kinds”, a chapter in the book, the character Jing-Mei describes her childhood, in which her mother stressed very strongly about her desire for Jing-Mei to become a piano prodigy. She kept complaining that the song played by a young girl on the television did not sound good, but could not state a reason. When Jing-Mei defends the girl by saying she’s trying her best, the mother changes her focus and starts comparing her to the girl on TV.

    Similarly, Amy Chua would not give her daughters positive feedback. In fact she was totally against it. In her article, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”, she states,

“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...never want to work, which is why it is crucial...This often requires fortitude on the part of the parents because the child will resist...which is where Western parents tend to give up. But if done properly, the Chinese strategy produces a virtuous circle.”(para. 5)

    As one can see here, Chua believes that if a child is praised, they will become spoiled. This agrees with the actions of Jing-Mei’s mother as she immediately bad-mouthed her when she spoke against her mother’s opinion. Furthermore, Amy Chua not only states that not providing positive feedback to a child will make them more obedient, but that doing so will create a resistant and lazy one.
    In Tan’s, “Without Wood”, another character, Rose Hsu, is having marital issues and chose to see a psychiatrist. Her mother, An-mei, is confused and slightly hurt by her daughter, who chose to see a complete stranger rather than her own mother. The book states,

“A mother knows what is inside you,’ she said. . . . ‘A [psychiatrist] will only make you [confused], make you see [a dark fog].’ Back home, I thought about what she said. . . . [These] were words I had never thought about in English terms. Maybe they can’t be easily translated because they refer to a sensation that only Chinese people have.”

    Here, not only has Rose chosen to talk to someone else about her issues rather than her mother, but she also has shown difficulty translating her mothers word, showing that she is more Americanized than the other daughters who range from attending Joy Luck with their parents to actually participating in the games they play. This may seem irrelevant at first. However, if one takes into consideration that An Mei, the mother, raised her daughter more loosely to the Chinese traditions, we can see an obvious connection between what Rose is experiencing and what Amy Chua believes.
    In summarization, the philosophy of Amy Chua and those mentioned in The Joy Luck Club reflect a similar ideology. Both state that children will abuse a loose parenting method, while holding a strict standard to them will instill obedience.