The Causes of the Conflicts

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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS

This chapter is the analysis of the novel The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Joy Luck Club. In this part, I tried to analyze the question formulated in the problem formulation section. There are two steps in analyzing the problems. They are the causes of the conflicts and the cultural conflicts between the Chinese and American cultures described in the novel and the effects of the cultural conflicts on the mother-daughter relationships. Because the novels compared here were written by one person Amy Tan, I used TBD as the abbreviation for The Bonesetter’s Daughter and TJLC as the abbreviation for The Joy Luck Club.

A. The Causes of the Conflicts

Gillin and Gillin 260 state, “Conflict is a social process in which individuals or groups seek their ends by directly challenging the antagonist by violence or threat of violence.” The conflicts found in these novels are cultural conflicts that give effects to the mother-daughter relationships. There are four roots that Gillin and Gillin state that conflicts have. In these novels, there are three causes or roots why cultural conflicts happen. The first is individual differences. Gillin and Gillin say, “Individual differences give different points of view and provide disparities which lead to clashes.” Every individual has unique characteristics that differ from one another. These individual differences result in different point of view of each thing for each person and this different perception of things that can ignite clashes. Basically they have different ways of communication, resulting in conflicting attitudes. Communication is not always easy between mothers and daughters. When the mothers think they are doing the right things for their daughters, their actions are often perceived as wrong in the daughters’ eyes. No matter how good the mothers’ intentions are, misperception occurs, which often leads to clashes between them. In The Joy Luck Club, Jing-mei experiences it with her mother, Suyuan. She thinks that her mother “pushes” her to do this and that and she fed up with it. “You want to me to be someone that I’m not” I sobbed. “I’ll never be the kind of daughter you want me to be” “Only two kinds of daughters,” she shouted in Chinese. “Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter” “Then I wish I wasn’t your daughter. I wish you weren’t my mother,” I shouted. TJLC 153 While the mothers think that their daughters turn rebellious, the daughters cannot understand their mothers’ actions and see those actions as strange. The second is cultural differences. Not only from inside, differences could come up from outside of us. People live in society with various unique cultures. For example, there is a culture of a community who speak in a high tone and a loud voice, but there is also another community who speak in a low tone and a soft voice. Miscommunication can occur when the two are meeting each other. The one with the soft voice might regard the other with the loud voice as rude or impolite. This misjudgment can lead to conflicts between individuals or even groups. In these novels cultural differences are the basic problems that lead to many other problems. Different cultural backgrounds that exist between the mothers—who have been brought up in the Chinese culture—and their daughters—who have been brought up in the American culture—become the source of the problems as they have completely different ways of thinking. This makes them unable to understand each other. Ruth feels that she is American but she is not allowed by her mother to do what she wants in her country, America as stated in The Bonesetter’s Daughter, “I’m an American,” Ruth shouted. “I have a right of privacy, to pursue my own happiness, not yours” TBD 158. This belief makes Ruth angry with her mother. She thinks that her mother cannot understand her. The third is social change. Social change may separate people into groups which can cause competition and conflict. This social change problem happens in the mothers’ side. The mothers who are Chinese but live in America keep their Chinese culture and do not try to adapt to the new culture—American—of the country where they live, while the daughters who are American-born and live in America live with American culture. It indirectly separates them into two groups. Both of them keep their culture strongly and it causes conflicts. The society was composed of a group of white-haired American missionary ladies from the First Chinese Baptist Church. And because of their gifts, my parents could refuse their invitation to join the church. Nor could they ignore the old ladies’ practical advice to improve their English through Bible study class on Wednesday nights and, later, through choir practice on Sunday mornings. This was how my parents met the Hsus, the Jongs, and the St. Clairs. My mother could sense that the women of these families also had unspeakable tragedies they had left behind in China and hopes they couldn’t begin to express in their fragile English. Or at least, my mother recognized the numbness in these women’s faces. And she saw how quickly their eyes moved when she told them her idea for the Joy Luck Club. TJLC 6-7 Besides, the elements of culture are developed by the society. Baron and Byrne 9-13 state that social behavior is shaped by a seemingly endless list of variables. They added five specific cultural factors influencing someone’s behavior that have possibilities to raise conflicts and clashes between one to another. However, in this novel there are only four things that exist in the society that the mothers are not aware of and do not try to adapt to. The first is the behavior and characteristics of American people. The importance of one’s position in the society can strongly affect his or her behavior. On one hand, the daughters do not understand their mothers’ behavior and characteristics. On the other hand, the mothers, who keep their Chinese culture strongly, do not try to adapt to the new culture that affects their daughters’ behavior and characteristics. Their refusal to adapt might be the result of their inability to understand the behavior and characteristics of American people. In this context, the mothers are not aware of the behavior and characteristics of American people. However, they even think that what American people do is strange and Chinese is the best. They keep their culture strongly without trying to adapt. The second is the social cognition one’s thoughts, attitudes, and inferences about other people around him or her. It is the aspect that affects one’s thoughts, attitudes, ideas, and judgments on other people. If one has a good judgment on other people, then he or she may follow or imitate others’ behavior. However, if one cannot accept the other’s thought that is different from his or hers, there will be a clash. There are different thoughts and person stands on hisher own thought without accepting others’ thoughts, there will be a clash. The mothers in these novels do not try to understand the thoughts or attitudes of American people. They are aware of the American culture, but they do not want to adapt. The mothers should be able to see good values which exist in the American culture which not only affect American people’s thoughts and attitudes, but also affect their daughters’. The third is an ecological variable. The term ‘ecological variable’ refers to the social ecological circumstances around an individual such as the condition of the environment, the house, and the city. The mothers do not accept the American circumstances. They behave as if they were in China. They speak in Chinese most of the time and they make the daughters feel that they are strange. The fourth is the sociocultural context in which a social behavior occurs . Such factors as cultural norms and regulations will affect one’s behavior. Societal standards or values shifting can influence one’s behavior. If people can accept the norms and regulations and be fair, everything can be alright, but if people cannot accept the norms and regulations, it can raise conflicts. The mothers cannot accept the American norms and regulations. In America people have more freedom. However, the mothers do not try to tolerate this freedom value. They strongly hold their Chinese culture such as their belief in superstition, their boasting habit, their perception on marriage, and their perception on mother figure. Their intolerance of the American freedom leads to disagreement with their daughters. Conflict can also happen in a family relationship. Noller and Fitzpatrick 98 say that conflict occurs in a family because the family members hold a difference between them. It can be different opinions, attitudes, needs, and also goals. Noller and Fitzpatrick 99 conclude that when the members of the family do not agree about the situations in their lives such as one’s behavior, or one’s opinions, there is a conflict. Disagreement can raise clash and conflict. That is why agreement is needed in a family relationship, as between mother and daughter. The mothers and the daughters in these novels completely disagree with each other. They have different opinions, attitudes, and all of these make them live in conflict with each other.

B. The Cultural Conflicts and The Effects on The Mother-Daughter