Initially, she is shocked, and stands there, “waiting and saying nothing” (Tan 239). An-mei learns to stand up to Second Wife, and by association, the patriarchy in the form of Wu Tsing. On the day of her mother’s death, An-mei declares, “And on that day, I learned to shout” (Tan 240). Her mother’s sacrifice, elicited by her oppressive domestic life, shows her both the need and a way to speak up. An-mei’s mother resorts to suicide because she “had no choice.” In those days, “They could not speak up. They could not run away. That was their fate” (Tan 241). The only way to escape her situation was through suicide, but she did so in order to provide her daughter with a voice and with strength. An-mei tells her daughter that she “was raised the Chinese way”: “I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other people’s misery, to eat my own bitterness” (Tan 215). Through the sacrifice of her mother, An-mei learns to abandon these ingrained gender roles and gain her own identity (Tan
Initially, she is shocked, and stands there, “waiting and saying nothing” (Tan 239). An-mei learns to stand up to Second Wife, and by association, the patriarchy in the form of Wu Tsing. On the day of her mother’s death, An-mei declares, “And on that day, I learned to shout” (Tan 240). Her mother’s sacrifice, elicited by her oppressive domestic life, shows her both the need and a way to speak up. An-mei’s mother resorts to suicide because she “had no choice.” In those days, “They could not speak up. They could not run away. That was their fate” (Tan 241). The only way to escape her situation was through suicide, but she did so in order to provide her daughter with a voice and with strength. An-mei tells her daughter that she “was raised the Chinese way”: “I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other people’s misery, to eat my own bitterness” (Tan 215). Through the sacrifice of her mother, An-mei learns to abandon these ingrained gender roles and gain her own identity (Tan