Mother-Daughter relationships are very delicate, one false move by either mother or daughter, and the relationship could be ruined. The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, a novel of vignettes of past memories, explores the lives of eight women - four mothers and their daughetrs. Each woman reveals her tragedies and hardships in life, and with each other. The stories involve the culture differences between the Chinese and Americans, and the large generation gap that divides the mother-daughter relationships. The relationship between the two generations is struggling, and without an understanding it will be broken. The presnce of the ofur elements bring an unconcious healing of the daughters' relationships with their culture and mothers.

Earth, the nurturing of life, is one of the key elements in The Joy Luck Club. In the Virtual Library, Dan Bowers stated, "The mothers watch as their daughters grow, feeling the desire to protect them, to teach them (1)." The mothers want to help and nurture their daughters, but the daughters are so distant, in culture and age, it is hard for the mothers to relate to their offspring. For example, when Suyuan Woo pushed her daughter June to

As the mothers tell their daughters of their lives in China, the daughters see their mothers' tragedies and start to fear their Chinese culture, pushing it away.

This quote supports the fact that the mothers wanted to pass on their wisdom, knowledge and philosophies to their daughters, but the daughters were so distant in age and culture, the mothers could not get their daughters to understand. And without this wind, or spirit, the daughters did not have the strength to overcome their own hardships. "The Joy Luck Club mothers see their daughters as having more opportunity in life. But the daughters seem to be lacking a type of Chinese spirit or strength that served the mothers through their severe hardships (Dialogics 1)." This spirit or strength was needed by the daughters to overcome obstacles, but they would not take time to listen to their mothers words, and the strength was lost. The mothers use this wind or spiritual words to help the daughters to be successful. For example, when Waverly went to a national chess tournament, she won, but her mother Lindo was still angry with her. "Lost eight piece this time. Last time was eleven. What I tell you? Better off lose less (Joy Luck 99)!" Lindo was trying to tell her daughter to lose less chess pieces, but Waverly got upset with her mother and ignored this command. Waverly later lost a game, and if she would have listened to her mother, she might have won. "Many times in the novel, the daughters appear spiritually lost. Rose lacks self-esteem and the ability to make decisions. June also lacks self-confidence. Waverly feels unaccepted by her mother, and Lena suffers an eating disorder and an emotionally abusive husband (Dialogics 2)." The daughters need this wind, or spirit from their mothers to overcome life's obstacles, only the daughters do not listen to what their mothers are trying to say. The daughters come to an understanding of their mothers' words after they have failed and they realize their mother was right all along.

"Part of June's struggle is to distance herself from the kind of hopeless obedience that she recognizes in the traditional Chinese women, and that she fears in manifesting itself in passivity in her own American life (CLC 92)."

Just as wind is invisible, the mother's love for their daughters is also invisible. Just as wind can be very strong, the mother's love for their daughters was also very strong, but the daughters never saw this love. "Tan lets each women tell her own story; at the center of every tale is the ferocious love between mother and daughter (Gale 1)." This quote describes the love found in each mother-daughter relationship, but it is hard find, because neither mother nor daughters express this love to one's understanding. This invisible love is the one tie that holds the mother daughter relationships together, along with earth, water and fire.

An opposite and enemy of the element fire, would be air, which is the spiritual element and is most present within the mothers' teachings and the Chinese culture.

Magill, Frank N, ed. Masterpeices of Women's Literature. 1st ed. New York: Salem press, 1996: 303-304.

As water can both destroy and purify, so can fire, which is seen mostly in the generation gaps and the culture differences.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Women's Lit, Joy Luck, China CLC, Luck Club, Lindo Waverly, Suyuan June, China Vlibrary, China Lindo, June June, Amy Tan, joy luck, joy luck club, luck club, mother daughter, 3 december, mothers daughters, december 2000, chinese culture, 3 december 2000, mother-daughter relationships, december 2000 1, amy tan, mother's life, waverly upset mother, daughters understanding mothers',
Approximate Word count = 2396
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)