Amy Chua & Amy Tan

In Amy Chua's article, she expresses the difference between Chinese and Western style teachings. Chua's argument is that parents must use any technique to push their children to the best of their abilities. She does not care about her children's feelings and believes thinking this way is a waste of time. Most importantly, her techniques are generalized to all Chinese mothers and many oppose them that what she is doing is cruel. Amy Chua says,

"I rolled up my sleeves and went back to Lulu. I used every weapon and tactic I could think of. We worked right through dinner into the night, and I wouldn't let Lulu get up, not for water, not even to go to the bathroom. The house became a war zone, and I lost my voice yelling, but still there seemed to be only negative progress, and even I began to have doubts. Then, out of the blue, Lulu did it. Her hands suddenly came together—her right and left hands each doing their own imperturbable thing—just like that."

Amy Chua's usage of diction gives the passage a very negative connotation. She promply compares her style of teachings to weapons. She transforms a peaceful lesson to a battlefield. Possibly, because of this rough language, one may find her technique to be unacceptable and cruel. Her actions do not reveal any form of care. When she chose to yell at her child to work harder, it reveals no understanding of her child's struggle. Despite all this, her tactic was successful. Underneath all the screaming, threatening, and forcing, is the real lesson. Amy Chua is trying to teach her children that you must try as many times possible and don't give up easily. She is trying to say, "Practice makes perfect".

In the novel, The Joy Luck Club, the author Amy Tan writes a similar scenario in her vignette "Half and Half". An-mei's daughter, Rose could never set her mind on anything; she can neither make trite or important decisions. In her childhood years, she lost her little brother, Bing, because she did not know whether to drop everything she was doing and save Bing from the monstrous waves on the beach, or continue to follow her mother's order of breaking up her other brothers' fight. She was the only one who saw Bing slowly being lured into the river with every step, yet she stood there thinking up a decision. In her current life, her husband Ted, is divorcing her because she is not able to make up her mind about anything. Rose blurted,

"I know now that I had never expected to find Bing, just as I know now I will never find a way to save my marriage. My mother tells me, though that I should still try.

               "What's the point?" I say. "There's no hope. There's no reason to keep trying."
               "Because you must," She says. "This is your fate. This is your life, what you must do."
                                                                                                               (Amy Tan p.130)

Throughout her life, Rose never made an effort to make the decision to at least try and solve the problems in her life. Perhaps it is low self esteem , the belief that there is nothing that can be done to change, that drives her decisions all these years. However, An-mei pushes her to keep trying. She wants to teach Rose that anything can be done as long as you put your mind to it. An-mei's technique in teaching is by talking through to her daughter thoughtfully, instead of using force. Her technique eventually worked as well, because in the end Rose finally understood that "You must undo the expectation" by trying harder until the expectation of becoming unsuccessful is defeated.

Therefore, Amy Tan support Amy Chua's argument that parents must push their children to try harder and don't give up. However, the main difference between them is the way they teach. Amy Chua enslaves her children until they have tried their best, while Amy Tan believes in discussing and encouraging.