How is there a lack of communication between the daughters and mothers in The Joy Luck Club?

Clearly the lack of communication between the daughters
and mothers in this excellent novel is based upon the culture clash that occurs between
them. The second generation immigrants, the daughters who are born in America, are
profoundly ambivalent about their Chinese heritage and background that means so much to
their mothers. In a sense, they want their Chinese background to be a private part of
their lives that remains at home, as is testified by their embarrassment when their
mothers speak in broken English.

Of course, the mothers
look upon this from a very different perspective and fight to maintain the value of
Chinese tradition in both their lives and in the lives of their daughters. The mothers
want their daughters to flourish in their new home of America, but also to remember
their origins and develop a distinct Chinese-American
character.

It is this clash in perspective based on culture
that leads to the lack of communication between the daughters and mothers, as both
struggle to see the perspective of the other group. The daughters feel that their
mothers are incapable of understanding what life is like for them, resulting in broken
communication and damaged relationships. You can look at any one of the mother-daughter
relationships to see this, but perhaps when Waverly insults her mother about the pride
she takes in her daughter's chess success would be a good example to look
at.