Each chapter is either a mother or a daughter talking about their experiences of growing up in either China or America. It is quite obvious that the women who grew up in China have much different viewpoints on their lifestyle than their daughters who grew up in America. The women who grew up in China had suffered great hardships yet they all took it to heart and kept it within themselves to suffer quietly. They grew up in a Communist country where women were far less equal to men. Little girls were basically worthless while little boys were prided upon.

Many times the women did not get to choose their husband. Instead, their parents often planned arranged marriages, even when the girl or boy might only be 6 or 7 years old. They often consulted a local "matchmaker" on who was the marry who. The Chinese were very superstitious about things like marri

To watch their daughters grow up in a completely different lifestyle than their own. To watch their daughters speak perfect English but struggle with Chinese. To watch their daughters give up things so easily because they do not want to put the effort in. To watch their daughters be accepted into society when they themselves were not. To watch their daughters face when they tried to talk in broken English back to them. To watch their daughters be ashamed of being Chinese. It must have hurt these mothers' to know that by bringing them to America meant losing something more precious than they ever thought possible.

While she is at this little celebration, her three "aunts" tell her they are going to send her to China to visit her two twin sisters. Before June's mother came to America, she had lived in Kweilin, China. She had married an officer (not June's dad) and they had two twin daughters. But during this time, World War II came about and soon Suyuan was running for her life, all the while carrying her two babies. Eventually, she left the babies behind because she simply could not carry them any further. She had lost everything.

"You must see your sisters and tell them about your mother's death," says Aunt Ying. "But most important, you must tell them about her life. The mother they did not know, they must know now."

"Not know your own mother?" cries Auntie An-mei with disbelief. "How can you say? Your mother is in your bones!"

And then it occurs to me. They are frightened. In me, they see their own daughters, just as ignorant, just as unmindful of all the truths and hopes they have brought to America. They see daughters who grow impatient when their mothers talk in Chinese, who think they are stupid when the explain things in fractured English. They see that joy and luck do not mean the same to their daughters, that to closed American-born minds "joy luck" is not a word, it does not exist. They see daughters who will bear grandchildren without any connecting hope passed form generation to generation.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1381
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)