In Amy Chua's article, she talks about how she had to force Lulu, her daughter to play a piece of music that was hard. Even though Sophia wanted to quit and stop playing because one of her music lines was too hard, Amy Chua had the patience to continue forcing her to learn how to play the music. It states,
"Back at the piano, Lulu made me pay... Then I hauled Lulu's dollhouse to the car and told her I'd donate it to the Salvation Army piece by piece if she didn't have "The Little White Donkey" perfect by the next day. When Lulu said, "I thought you were going to the Salvation Army, why are you still here?" I threatened her... When she still kept playing it wrong, I told her she was purposely working herself into a frenzy because she was secretly afraid she couldn't do it. I told her to stop being lazy, cowardly, self-indulgent and pathetic." (Why Chinese Mothers are Superior)In this quote from Amy Chua's article, it discusses how she teaches her daughter. She forces Lulu to learn by threatening her and insulting her so that she would learn to do better so that others would not have to insult her. In my opinion, these threats from Amy helped to push Lulu so that she can prove herself to her mother. After pushing her, Lulu learns the piece and they celebrate. Therefore, a goal was basically set for Lulu so that when she achieves it, the mother - daughter bond would become stronger.
In the first section of "The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates" called The Rules of the Game, it discusses about how Waverly Jong became a successful chess player. During her road to success, she had some help from her parents but it was the type of help that didn't help her improve playing chess but just to improve her environment. In the book, Waverly says,
"My parents made many concessions to allow me to practice, One time I complained that the bedroom I shared was so noisy that I couldn't think. Thereafter, my brothers slept in a bed in the living room facing the street. I said I couldn't finish my rice... I left the table with half-finished bowls and nobody complained" (Tan 98-99)In this quote, it shows that the parents give her whatever she needed. Here, she needed quiet and focus in order to play chess so the parents gave her that. The relationship between the mother and daughter isn't really close because the daughter enjoys the effort made by the mother but the mother tends to brag about her winnings more than appreciating her.
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