The Mother-Daughter Relationship in The Joy Luck ClubIn The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, the characters Suyuan and June have a mother-daughter relationship full of conflicts, but ultimately rooted in deep love and commitment to each other. Due to the drastic differences in the environments they grew up in and their life experiences, these two women have many opposing ideas and beliefs. This, combined with a lack of communication, is responsible for many of the problems they encounter throughout their relationship. These conflicts are only resolved when June learns about her mother's past and accepts their respective differences. How their relationship develops and the conflicts that June and Suyuan face reveal some of the themes that Amy Tan intends readers to learn. These themes cover topics such as finding the meaning of life, making choices, and understanding ourselves and our families. Most of the conflicts June and her mother face are based on misunderstandings and neglect of each other's feelings and beliefs. June does not understand or even fully know her mother because she does not know her tragic past and the pain she still feels from her memory. Since Suyuan lost two daughters in China and her entire family was killed in the war, she leaves this place behind and places all her hopes in America and her family there. He wants the best for his daughter June. Even her name, Suyuan, meaning "long-cherished desire," speaks to this hope for Jing-Mei, meaning "the pure, essential and best-quality younger sister." Suyuan tells her daughter June that she can be anything she wants and that she is very talented. At first June is excited and dreams of what she will become: "In all my imaginings, I was filled with the feeling that I would soon be perfect. My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the need to sulk for anything." (Tan 143) Suyuan pushes June to succeed in many different areas such as dance, academics, trivia, and piano. After failing to excel at every task she was assigned, June begins to feel more and more resentful towards her mother. He sees his mother's hopes as expectations and when she doesn't live up to them, he feels like a failure.