How do the mothers use the "talk-story" in The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan?

In order to discuss how mothers use the "talk-story" in
Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, it is important to understand what the
talk-story is; and in order to do so, one must understand
high-context cultures compared to low-context cultures. These concepts are defined in
terms of how much verbal communication takes place, as opposed to how much communication
is inferred—understood without explanation.
The high-context culture, e.g., China, offers little verbal explanation. Children are
carefully trained to understand things inherently. Mothers of Chinese children do not
share "written or spoken messages" with their children—even expecting that various
aspects of the culture will prompt their children to follow unspoken social norms simply
by watching and imitating what goes on around them.

In a
low-context culture, such as that of the United States, everything
is explained—inference is not an option. Children are not expected to understand a
non-verbal language. American children are given verbal
instructions with details. Because of differences in "sharing information" in these very
diverse cultures, the children act much differently. Children of Chinese parents living
in the East will understand how to honor their ancestors, will know that children take
care of their parents when the children become adults, etc. There is no question: it is
understood. This culture is steeped in tradition and is slow to change. Conversely, in
the U.S., because everything is explained, there is more social
flexibility, things change much more quickly, and children do not tenaciously grasp
things that are cultural norms, but will question their parents—even rejecting their
value systems.

With this being said, it is difficult for
the Chinese mothers of Chinese-American children to convey what their children need to
learn for they believe that this information is shared almost by
osmosis.

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Am-mei, for instance, sees in her mother "my own
true nature. What was beneath my skin. Inside my
bones..."

While children of
Chinese parents struggle to understand the unspoken information that they feel they need
to know, Chinese mothers cannot speak the words their children wait to hear. Frustration
arises between the mothers and their daughters in The Joy Luck
Club. Mothers are confused by what their daughters don't
know and the daughters feel they are missing something.

The
"talk-story" is a practice that allows the mothers to share information by presenting
their "stories" in the form of folklore:

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One way of maintaining and instructing children
in traditional ways which Chinese immigrants adopted is the traditional Chinese talk
story.

"Oral wisdom" is
passed down in traditional ways such as parables, proverbs, etc., without the mother
having to explain the point (as is needed with Aesop's
Fables..."and the moral of the story is..."). The mothers in Amy Tan's novel use this
technique. If we understand that to have to explain oneself in China is an
embarrassment, we can easily realize that this technique gives the
mothers socially- accepted...

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...public utterances: painful experiences are
recast in the language of folk tale; cautionary reminders become gnomic phrases; real
life takes on the contours of
myth.

The reserve of the
usually silent mother in the Chinese culture, as well as the one who maintains distance
from her audience, is upheld. In this way, both mother and daughter find acceptable ways
to express themselves—in expressing their "essential self."