Home is not exactly a place but it is an understanding of the beliefs of the mothers in the novel and the different but not wrong beliefs of their daughters. The first relationship that will be discussed is the relationship between An-mei Hsu and her brief relationship with her mother in China. An-Mei first describes her mother as a ghost who later returns to her after she had been gone for nearly five years. After leaving her other family members, An-Mei is taken to a strange, but wealthy house where she discovers her mothers relationship with a man named Wu Tsing. Her mother had disappeared, had a son, and was Wu Tsings fourth wife.
After being weakened by the house, and the dishonesty of the people in the house, An-Meis mother commits suicide only after she tells An-Mei that she would rather kill her own weak spirit so she could give me a stronger one (Tan, 240).
Mother and Child watching each other
original National Geographic article A BEDOUIN MOT...
Waverly, PennsylvaniaAs a Chinese belief, it is thought that a mother was to pass her spirit to her daughter and so on through each generation to come. Although An-Mei experienced a brief, tragic relationship with her mother, An-Mei's spirit and sense of home was stronger then before and that day her mother died An-Mei learned to shout
(240).
On the other hand, An-Mei's relationship with her
daughter was not as easy to recognize in the sense of a home place as it was for An-Mei and her mother. An-Mei's daughter Rose was one of seven children. An-Mei put an immense amount of responsibility on Rose at a very young age. Rose was expected to take care of her four brothers in order to learn responsibility and appreciation for her parents. This responsibility leads to the death of the youngest brother, Bing, but a...