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Jing-mei’s mother survived a war-torn China and places the weight of her history and hopes on her daughter. She shows an incredible amount of strength to have endured losing everyone and everything to start over in America. Her motivation is the belief in the American Dream, and that because of it, there are many ways for things to get better. Her perception of prosperity is determined by material means, such as owning a business, buying a house with a small down payment, earning retirement pay, and obtaining riches and fame. While material riches cannot completely fulfill a person and certainly won’t erase her past, this belief is misguided but understandable. After losing everything, she wants her daughter to have it all, and a tangible measure of that is monetary wealth. Jing-mei’s mother does not seek the American Dream for herself but for her daughter. She withholds her own needs and attempts to build Jing-mei’s future by trading work for piano lessons and by scrounging to save money to buy Jing-mei’s piano. Though her actions appear to be selfless, she places insurmountable pressure on her daughter who, as a child, must carry both of their hopes and dreams on her back.  

Jing-mei’s mother does not discuss her past and has trouble communicating with her daughter. This leads to misunderstandings that exacerbate the conflict between them. She speaks through her actions: waving her hands to summon Jing-mei to the TV, bringing home magazines and testing her daughter, trading work for piano lessons, buying the piano, shutting herself in her room, and giving Jing-mei the piano as an adult. In these ways, she expresses her feelings, hopes, and desires. This lack of communication leads to a lifetime of tension between mother and daughter, and her dreams remain unrealized at the time of her death. 

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