Mothers have a unique ability to see their daughters. They see them like no one else. Often, what a daughter perceives as her mother's opinion is not at all what she feels. The mothers of the Joy Luck Club see more than what's on the surface of their daughters, they see inside them. As An-mei Hsu tells her daughter: “A mother is better. A mother knows what’s inside you” (Tan 188). The mothers of the Joy Luck Club want more for their daughters than their daughters realize. Ying-ying wants her daughter to have a more honest and less passive relationship than she had with her husband, and she thinks Lena deserves it. The American Translation section opens with a short story that shows a mother who sees in her daughter, not only the daughter, but the child she will have and the mother she will become. Her mother sees more than what is obvious. Lena's mother too. She notes that Lena's life is currently "a lifeless room" and that she and her husband spend too much time saying "words that mean nothing" (Tan 252). As a child, Lena translated many of her parents' words literally. life for them. His father spoke little Chinese and his mother spoke only a little English. Lena learned to translate so that each parent heard what they thought they wanted to hear (Tan 112). She never learned how a husband and wife should actually communicate and she continued it until she got married. His only positive communication model was their neighbor. For years, she thought their shouting and arguments ended in violence, until she finally realized that their arguments were "cries of love" (Tan 115). His neighbors gave him hope that life would not be terrible, that people could find the good in each other....... middle of paper ...... able or their marriage could cause it to collapse. Harold doesn't pay any more attention to the fact that the table might collapse than he does to Lena and their marriage. When the table finally breaks, Lena's mother's comment has "fallen" (Tan 165), as has Lena's marriage. Lena tells her mother that she knew the table would break and her mother asks the simple question "why don't you stop it?" (Tan 165). Lena's mother doesn't want her to make the same mistake she made by not communicating with her husband. She knows Lena could improve the foundation of her marriage by speaking up for herself. Years ago, Ying-ying became an “invisible spirit” (Tan 251) because of her first husband and she expects more from her daughter. Ying-ying sees that Lena may be more of a “ghost” that you can’t see (Tan 163). Lena can create her own future, not just passively let it happen.