1) The novel explores the changing relationship between mothers and daughters from China to America across generations through the themes of cultural assimilation, language, architecture and more.
2) While the mothers struggled in China being obedient wives, the daughters have more freedom and independence in America, though both strive to find balance between their Chinese and American identities.
3) Symbols like architecture represent the state of relationships, with unhappy marriages reflected in deteriorating homes, just as cultural and generational differences sometimes strain the constant mother-daughter bond despite all sacrificing much for each other.
1) The novel explores the changing relationship between mothers and daughters from China to America across generations through the themes of cultural assimilation, language, architecture and more.
2) While the mothers struggled in China being obedient wives, the daughters have more freedom and independence in America, though both strive to find balance between their Chinese and American identities.
3) Symbols like architecture represent the state of relationships, with unhappy marriages reflected in deteriorating homes, just as cultural and generational differences sometimes strain the constant mother-daughter bond despite all sacrificing much for each other.
1) The novel explores the changing relationship between mothers and daughters from China to America across generations through the themes of cultural assimilation, language, architecture and more.
2) While the mothers struggled in China being obedient wives, the daughters have more freedom and independence in America, though both strive to find balance between their Chinese and American identities.
3) Symbols like architecture represent the state of relationships, with unhappy marriages reflected in deteriorating homes, just as cultural and generational differences sometimes strain the constant mother-daughter bond despite all sacrificing much for each other.
Mothers and daughters have a special connection in this book through fesh and spirit. It is as though daughters and mothers share one fesh all their lives, and not just when daughters are in the womb. They take on diferent roles depending on cultural demands. In China, the mothers are epected to be obedient wives and to never openly challenge authority. In !merica, the daughters are independent, have the option o" divorcing and taking most any job, and come "rom the baby boomer generation, which o"ten prides itsel" on challenging authority. #hen the daughter in the prologue o" Queen Mother of the Western Skies looks in the mirror, because she is sitting with one mirror in "ront o" her and one at her back, she sees in$nite refections o" her own "ace. This makes her reali%e that she is part o" one multi"aceted spirit that etends "orever into past and "uture generations. #hile her country o" residence, job, marriage, and language may be diferent "rom her mother&s, they are still connected irrevocably, as will be the case with her own daughter. Assimilation and the American Dream The story o" the swan is the ultimate symbol o" the !merican 'ream in the novel. The mothers want their daughters to have all the privileges they could not, but are disappointed that this in turn means their daughters will not truly understand them. The !merican 'ream changes between the generations. (or the mothers, it is creating a "uture "ull o" privilege and success. (or the daughters, it is the "reedom to take their opportunities and do with them as little or as much as they want. The daughters& !mericanness is refected most strongly in their relationships with men. Ted, )arold, and especially *ich, represent the !merican part o" their wives, which "or the mothers seems "righteningly disconnected "rom Chinese thinking. +uyuan wants ,ing-mei to be the per"ect !merican girl like +hirley Temple, but resents how little ,ing-mei understands about Chinese culture. !s .indo ,ong eplains, these are the perils o" being /two-"aced./ (itting in one place means not $tting in somewhere else, and the challenge "or Chinese- !merican women is to $nd a balance that honors both cultures. Architecture and Arrangement +urroundings and settings represent the state o" things in the characters& lives. The $rst eample o" this pattern is the caves o" 0weilin. #hen li"e is peace"ul, they are breathtaking and wondrous, but during wartime they represent terror. #hile the caves protect the citi%ens o" 0weilin, they make them all the more aware o" their con$nement and lack o" "reedom. 1ing-ying sees this dichotomy in .ena&s house. +igns o" an unhappy marriage are refected in the "act that the architecture and decoration are pretty but lack "unction. The irony, o" course, is that both husband and wi"e work in architecture. They have all the skills to build a strong house and a strong marriage, but they cannot seem to use them. The unstable table represents the whole house and whole marriage. .ike )arold and .ena&s marriage, it has sentimental value and once seemed like the best table ever built. 2ow its faws are all too obvious. .ike the luuries in the )uang household, those in )arold and .ena&s house are just a cover "or how things have gone rotten "rom the inside out. There is similar symbolism in Ted and *ose&s garden. The house again represents marital unhappiness. It is as though when a couple does not address their faws, the problems seep into their homes. *ose is like the garden she lets go to ruin3 she is tired o" having her hopes and sel"-worth pruned back by Ted. +he must be like the weeds that creep into the stonework and eventually tear down the house and all it represents. Love and Marriage The "act that many o" the mothers and daughters have unhappy marriages creates a common ground on which they can relate. 4ut marriage has diferent meanings "or each generation. (or the mothers, it is permanent and not always based on love. 5specialy in their marriages in China, it is a social necessity that they must secretly undermine in order to be happy. (or the daughters, marriage is supposed to be the arena where they can be their true selves. )owever, like their mothers, they are hard-pressed to $nd true love or themselves in their marriages3 rather, they must break up their marriages to $nd themselves. The one love that remains constant in the novel is that between mothers and daughters. 2o matter how strained it is by cultural and generational diferences, it is indestructible. .ove, like heritage, goes "orward and backward through generations o" "emales. Language As Barrier and Bridge *eading the novel in 5nglish, we can "orget that the mothers are speaking in Chinese. This "act shows how unimportant diferences in language can be3 mothers and daughters epress themselves vividly whether in 5nglish or Chinese. )owever, this "act also reminds us how much o" the mothers& intentions are lost to 5nglish speakers, including their daughters. They seem uneducated when they speak 5nglish, unable to pronunce words, but are really deep reservoirs o" knowledge. Many things in Chinese culture have no real 5nglish e6uivalent, such as chunwang chihang and nengkan. These ideas seem "oreign to the daughters3 they understand them but o"ten consider them speci$c to their mothers& generation. Thus language can be a barrier between people. .anguage can also be a bridge3 "or instance, +uyuan and Canning "all in love while learning 5nglish together, and it is the daughters& ability to understand Chinese that lets them glean their mothers& wisdom. In the end, the success o" ,ing-mei&s journey is evident in language. ,ing-mei $nally learns the meaning o" her own name and her mother&s. +he has been the key to "ul$lling her mother&s dream all along3 her role as the ultimate bridge between the generations is encoded in her very name. u!erstition and "hosts 4oth mothers and daughters believe in spirits and in reading signs, although the daughters can be reluctant to accept what they see. +uperstition can make the mothers seem strange and outmoded to their daughters, but it also makes them aware o" their deep spiritual inheritance. Mothers see it necessary to teach their daughters superstition, because they think their daughters are naturally blind to the spiritual world. .ena sees ghosts and *ose believes 7ld Man Chou in her dreams. *ose and .ena both see themselves as having the ability to change their "ate by superstition, by chunwang chihan. 4ut superstition also makes them "eel helpless3 *ose has the premonition that 4ing will die but cannot do anything to stop it. In the same way, .ena sees her marriage "alling apart but "eels helpless to prevent it. In the end, the daughters& connection to their mothers comes through the ghosts o" their ancestors. #hen she meets her sisters, ,ing-mei reali%es that she has been connected to her Chinese heritage all along in spirit, even i" not in her actions. #hen ,ing-mei and her sisters look at the 8olaroid, they see themselves appear like ghosts out o" the mist to become the striking image o" +uyuan. 4y the end o" the book ,ing-mei, like the other daughters, reali%es that she is just as much a part o" her mother&s spirit as she is o" her fesh. (urthermore, she is the only one who can save her mother "rom becoming a ghost, by learning "rom her strength and keeping her heritage alive. acri#ce and u$ering 8hysical sacri$ce epresses how a mother and daughter are so close they are like one fesh. The story o" !n-mei )su&s mother is the strongest eample o" this epression. (irst, she sacri$ces fesh "rom her arm to honor her own mother, 8opo. It is as though the pain is nothing compared to her obligation to her mother. !n-mei )su&s mother also sacri$ces her body to #u Tsing so that she can have at least some status instead o" becoming a beggar. +he does this so that !n-mei can look up to her. )er suicide, while seemingly sel$sh, is the ultimate sacri$ce she can make "or !n-mei. 4y killing hersel", she is showing !n-mei that being a second-rate concubine, used and disgraced, is no way to live. In dying, she gives !n-mei the strength to carve her own path in li"e. .indo sacri$ces her pride and happiness to keep her parents& promise to #u Tsing. +uyuan must sacri$ce her daughters, abandoning them in order "or them to have a chance at li"e. !ll o" the mothers make a great sacri$ce in leaving China in hopes o" $nding a better li"e "or their daughters. .ike the duck, they must stick their necks out in order to become swans. 7nce they have settled in !merica, both mothers and daughters are "aced with another "orm o" sacri$ce. !s .indo ,ong says, one always sacri$ces part o" onesel" by putting on one&s /!merican "ace/ or one&s /Chinese "ace./ !ll the women have sacri$ced the chance to be /"ully/ o" one culture in order to struggle and revel in the space between cultures. This is the ultimate sacri$ce they make "or one another.