Nyana Williams
Mrs. Brownrigg
English II Honors
21 February 2020
Lit Circle Essay #1
Author’s Argument
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
by Amy Chua is a contentious piece that explains her
experience raising her two daughters, Sophia and Lulu, the Chinese way. She attempts to argue
throughout her novel that Chinese parents are better at raising children than Western ones, due to
her own experience with her Chinese immigrant parents which she felt yielded more effective
results than her peers.
Line of Reasoning
From the beginning to the end of Chua’s novel one claim is evident, she believes Chinese
parents raise children better because they arm their children with skills and strong habits, while
Westerners ( which she uses very loosely )
care too much about the child’s individuality and
how they feel. Scattered throughout this novel, she includes reasons that support her claim. Chua
feels that “Western parents try to respect their children’s individuality, encouraging them to
pursue their true passions, supporting their choices, and providing positive reinforcement and a
nurturing environment. “ ( page 63 ) Chinese parents are the complete opposite. Chua feels her
strict, extremely harsh parenting is worth it in the long run, and she seems to speak for all
Chinese parents when she says this. There are many instances throughout the book Chua will
scream at Lulu or Sophia about playing correctly, call them ugly words, not allow them to get up
from their spot. In the end, the results prove worthy of the pain endured to get them, Chua
receives endless compliments on her daughters’ musical abilities. An example Chua shows , “ 1.
Oh my God, you’re just getting worse and worse! 2. I’m going to count to three, then I want
musicality
! 3. If the next time’s not
perfect
, I’m going to
TAKE ALL YOUR STUFFED
ANIMALS AND BURN THEM!
” ( page 28) Chua would scream and scream gruesome things at
Sophia, but in the end it all seemed to work out perfectly. Sophia, at age nine, won a local piano
award performing a piece called
Butterfly
