... have also appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, and all her works have been translated into many different languages. She has also written other stories, narratives, and even childrens' books. (Steven Higents) Next, Tan based her works on the own life. She uses incidents and facts from her ... past, and in some cases, her parents and ancestors pasts, and interweaves them into her stories. For example, June's mother from The Joy Luck Club, June's mother left behind her two baby daughters when the Japanese attacked Kweilin, as did ... . Tan's mother when the Communists took over....

• Word Count: 927
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... them behind during her desperate flight from Japan's attack on Kweillin during World War II. Jing-mei was born years after in America, to another father. Suyuan died before she could reach her daughters although she found the address of her lost daughters. Jing-mei had taken her mother's place ... women fear that Jing-mei's doubts may be justified. They fear that their own daughters, like Jing-mei, may not know or appreciate the stories of their mothers' lives. Of the four sections of four different narratives; the first section is the mothers telling of how they recall their ... relati...

• Word Count: 579
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Sometimes expressing our parents" love for us and a lot of the time annoying us, who had never heard their mother or father telling them to go do their homework or to go practice their recital? Parental pressure is often part of a child's life as it was ... the only two girls she had at the time to that revolution which claimed millions of other lives. After immigrating to America and having another child, a daughter again, it is natural for her to place all of her hopes in that child, probably in order to compensate what she has missed with her other two ... night after dinner, my mother a...

• Word Count: 845
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

It is often assumed that fictional stories are simply built upon elaborate and fanciful ideas. This, however, is not entirely true. Authors of fiction may indeed write fabricated tales of tiny, ... heard about that boy who's putting in extra hours at the football field after practice, not for himself or his love for the game, but for his father. Parents often encourage, and sometimes even force, their children to pursue activities they find little or no interest in simply because they had not had the opportunities ... asks her to simply try her hardest at reaching her own personal best. Wh...

• Word Count: 580
• Approx Pages: 2

... to push her to practice the piano, which would lead to a big argument ending in her telling her mother that she wishes that she wasn't her daughter anymore. Was the conflicts resolved? I think they were. In the end of the short story, the mother returns the piano to Jing-mei for her ... thirtieth birthday. I took this as a way of forgiveness almost. The mother offering her daughter forgiveness for what she had said to her after the talent show. Reading in-between the lines, I figure that the mother possibly pushed her child so ... something. This story was a bit harder to dig deep and...

• Word Count: 813
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... presented any curiosity in her mother's past, and that she never had the chance to listen to her mother's stories. Her mother is gone, and she is gone without knowing that her twin daughters are still alive. After Jing-mei and her father disembark the train in Guangzhou China, they must wait in line to be process to customs. This brings to ... her mother's name, Suyuan "long-cherished wish" (Tan 272).  Suyuan wished to be reunited with her firstborn twin daughters, and now that desire has been realized through her daughter Jing-mei. This mesmerizing story of a family coming full circle...

• Word Count: 1248
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School