Parents, Children and Family Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Parents, Children and Family - Essay Example In the story, Jin-mei interpreted her mother’s wishes as the following, â€Å"My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. America was where all my mother’s hopes lay. She had come to San Francisco in 1949 after losing everything in China: her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls.† (Tan 1208). Jing-mei only wanted to be herself. The mother and daughter’s conflict revolved around each of their perceptions of one another. Even though Suyuan Woo loves Jing-mei, sometimes that isn’t enough to make a happy family. Even though Suyuan Woo has high expectations for her child, there is no malice in her actions. â€Å"At the core of a happy family are parents and children, connected to one another in a way that is mutually satisfying, pleasing and enduring.† (Lezin, Rollen, Bean and Taylor). Though this family has endured, both parties, Suyuan Woo and Jing-mei, are not pleased or satisfied with each other. Sometimes being a family, does not always mean being a happy family. I Stand Here Ironing relates a tale of a daughter, Emily, and her mother. Emily’s mother is standing at an ironing board ironing, while speaking to the audience. As she irons, the mother muses about her failures as mother, even though she was a single parent. She felt Emily did not receive enough attention because of her work, trying to support Emily and her four siblings. The book relates that Emily’s father left before she was a year old with only explanation â€Å"he could no longer endure.† (Olsen). Emily’s mother had no choice but to raise her daughter to the best of her abilities, even though she felt that Emily needed more. The relationship between Emily and her mother is more common today than it was when this story was set. â€Å"More than half of all children will spend some of their lives in a single-parent family. Currently, 90% of these families are headed by women.† (Hare and