“Sweet Ma tried to shape my mind, pounding it like dumpling dough. And the more she tried, the more I became like my mother, so she said. I was greedy, she warned, and could not fill my heart with enough pleasure, my stomach with enough contentment, my body with enough sleep. I was like a rice basket with a rat hole at the bottom, and thus could not be satisfied and overflow, nor could I be filled. I would never know the full depth and breadth of love, beauty, or happiness. She said it like a curse.

Because of her criticism, I acted as if I were even more deficient in feeling, particularly toward her. I found that a blank face and a bland heart were the very things that made Sweet Ma's eyebrows bulge to bursting. My reasoning was this: How could I be wounded when I didn't care? In time, I felt I was growing stronger and stronger. My legs no longer buckled, and I learned to hide from pain. I hid my deepest feelings so well I forgot where I had placed them.”

Saving Fish From Drowning, Amy Tan

“..I gorged myself... I forced spoonful after spoonful down my throat..later.. sat hunched.. retching back into the ice cream container.... wondering why it was eating something good could make me feel so terrible, while vomiting something terrible could make me feel so good.”

The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan

“I almost aborted (my daughter), though. When I found out I was pregnant, I was furious. ...referred to (it) as my 'growing resentment' and I dragged M. down to the clinic so he would have to suffer through his too.”

The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan

“That is the way it is with a wound. The wound begins to close in on itself to protect what is hurting so much. And once it is closed, you no longer see what is underneath, what started the pain.”

The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan

“The next night, I lay straight on the bed next to him.... still didn't touch me ...the next night I took off my gown... He was scared and turned his face. He had no desire for me, but it was his fear that made me think he had no desire for any women. .. After more months had passed (his mom said) My son says he’s planted enough seeds for thousands of grandchildren. .. It must be you doing something wrong....she confined me to the bed so that her grandchildren's seeds would not spill out so easily.”

The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan

“This is how a daughter honors her mother. It is shou so deep it is in your bones. The pain of the flesh is nothing. The pain you must forget. Because sometimes that is the only way to remember what is in your bones. You must peel off your skin, and that of your mother, and her mother before her. Until there is nothing. No scar, no skin, no flesh.”

The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan