Mothers have the unique ability to see their daughters. They see them in a way that no one else sees. Often what a daughter perceives as her mother's opinion is not what she feels at all. 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 says to her daughter “A mother is the best. A mother knows what is inside you” (Tan 188). The mothers of the Joy Luck Club want more for their daughters than the daughters realize. Ying-ying wants her daughter to have a more honest and less passive relationship than the one she had with her husband and believes Lena deserves it. The American Translation section opens with a story that shows a mother who sees in her daughter not just her daughter, but the son she will have and the mother she will become. His mother sees more than the obvious. Lena's mother does too. She sees 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 literally translated many of her parents' words. life for them. His father spoke little Chinese and his mother spoke only a little English. Lena learned to translate so that each parent could hear what they thought they wanted to hear (Tan 112). He never learned the way a husband and wife should actually communicate and has carried this concept forward into his marriage. His only positive communication model was their neighbor. For years, she thought their shouting and arguing ended in violence, until she finally realized that their arguing was “crying for love” (Tan 115). Her neighbors gave her hope that life wouldn't be terrible, that people could find the good in each other... middle of paper... able otherwise their marriage might make it collapse. Harold pays no more attention to whether 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) just like 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 that Lena could improve the foundation of her marriage by speaking up. Years ago, Ying-ying became an “invisible spirit” (Tan 251) because of her first husband and expects more from her daughter. Ying-ying sees that Lena may be more the “ghost” that you cannot see (Tan 163). Lena can create her own future, not passively let it happen.