Review article
Motherhood and Memory in Novels Please Look After Mom and The Joy Luck Club
Gordan Matas
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Split
Abstract
Korean author Kyung-sook Shin and Chinese-American author Amy Tan in their novels Please, Look After Mom! and The Joy Luck Club, respectively, analyze problematic relationships between mothers and their daughters as well as their generational and cultural conflicts. Although the causes of these conflicts are similar, the manner in which the conflicts have been resolved manifests itself differently in the respective novels. By merging the voices of mothers and daughters in their novels, Tan and Shin show they have much more in common than one could expect. In spite of all differences, there is a lot that connects them. Tan believes that it is genetics that wins in the end and, therefore, she believes she can represent her mother. For Shin, mothers are both needed and essential, although their daughters cannot understand it in the beginning. Therefore, the initial conflicts between mothers and daughters in their novels end up with reconciliation and understanding, although it happens too late for some of the mothers.
Keywords
mothers; daughters; motherhood; identity; memory
Hrčak ID:
278151
URI
Publication date:
27.5.2022.
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