the 80s and 90s, the years of my childhood. Nevertheless, I have sti!
             ll felt pressure to belong, to fit in with my schoolmates, the majority of whom are Caucasian. Besides that, I have also felt that I didn't quite belong around my classmates, as Tan's characters had, and that's partly why so many of my friends are Chinese (the "Chinese clique") and Asian--we look similar and come from similar backgrounds. Our parents are constantly demanding more from us when our best isn't enough for them, they're strict, and basically, "in a crowd of Caucasians, Chinese people are already like family." (from The Joy Luck Club) Personally, I feel like I belong more in a group of mixed races than I do in a group that is all Caucasian. It's a subconscious feeling, but it's there. I don't know if this is true for other Asians, however. I grew up feeling rather out of place among my non-Asian peers because my heritage and even my culture were different from theirs, and we couldn't really relate. This assimilation problem isn't as severe as it may sound (after all!
             , some of my Asian friends seemed to fit in just fine--maybe it's just me?), but it's still there, and Amy Tan does an excellent job of portraying it through her characters.
             The fourth and final section wraps up the book with the mothers' stories of what happened after their childhood. The title, Queen Mother of the Western Skies, signifies that the mothers were the Queen Mothers of the daughters, and that they were the mystical wise ones whom their daughters should have heeded. Here, the mothers conclude their stories and the daughters finally realized the pain, heartaches, and happiness of their forbears, and that they should have revered their mothers from the beginning as the traditional Chinese would have revered the Queen Mother. As the story in the beginning of the section suggests, the mothers watch as their daughters grow, feeling the desire to protect them, to teach them "...