The Joy Luck Club Q&A

June and Suuyan share a tumultuous relationship, and this is primarily due to June’s belief that she has disappointed her mother. She is self-conscious about her career, her education, and her living condition. She compares herself to others, particularly Waverly, and believes that her mother does the same. In her childhood, June had misunderstood Suuyan’s attempts to help her find an area in which she had natural talent. These reasons lead June to tell the Joy Luck Club that she cannot go to Shanghai to tell her step-sisters about their mother.

Waverly watched her mother, Lindo, claim that Waverly’s ability in chess could be ascribed to the familial effort. She did not understand that this was a subtle practice of Chinese humility, and not her mother’s attempt to use her as an object to be flaunted. Waverly screams at her mother and begins to believe that her mother is actively her opponent. They spend several years misunderstanding each other and having conflicts until they begin to talk honestly with one another after Waverly decides to marry Rich.

Ying-Ying helps Lena realize that her dynamic with Harold has always been flawed because Lena has been striving to be treated as an equal in the wrong manner. She points out Harold’s inability to recognize that Lena does not eat ever eat ice cream and that Lena has never been able to express this to Harold. 

Ted and Rose are an interracial couple, a fact that makes Ted’s family particularly uncomfortable. She tells Rose not to think of having a serious relationship with Ted, and when Rose tells Ted that she cannot see him for this reason, they create a bad dynamic for themselves. Rose always plays the role of a damsel in distress and Ted acts as her saviour. Eventually, he grows tired of making all the decisions and bearing all the responsibility for those decisions. He suddenly decides to leave her and indicates that he intends to remarry.