Cultural differences- This theme is seen throughout the story, as many of these women have moved to America, which means that cultures are bound to clash. The daughters are often seen to be assimilated within the American culture, which is shown in their more rebllious and independent side. Although we see a barrier begin to form with a lot of the daughters, as they struggle with communicating with their mothers. More often than not, many Asians are seen as very stupid because of their inexperience with the English language, but this is just a language barrier. Many of the mothers are fluent in Chinese and are able to share their knowledge of how life works and their past mistakes.
Issues with the past - This theme is prevalent within the story, as we see many of the stories and flashbacks are dealing with issues in the past. Whether it is from trauma or a tragic backstory, we see each mother deal and overcome their pasts. Mistakes are often what create our character and help us learn more in order to prevent the same mistake from happening. Many immigrants want their children to succeed because they had to deal with hardship in the past. Therefore many of the mothers just want their children to live a better life, as they had to deal with a tragic past.
Identity - This theme comes into play right into the beginning, as June mentions that she is suppose to be taking the place of her mother. This automatically suggests that her identity was already determined by her mother. Throughout the story, this theme is revisited multiple times, as we see each woman determine her worth, and overcome challenges in order to prove their true value.