Part one of term paper
Fasting of the Heart: Mother-Tradition and Sacred Systems in Amy Tan's "Concentrate your will. Hear not with your ears but with your mind; not with your mind, but with your spirit . . . blank, passively responsive to externals. In such open receptivity only can Tao abide. And in that open receptivity is fasting of the heart." (Chuangtze, in ...

Part two of term paper
... the text with attention to the way these two sacred systems interact between each mother and daughter offers a unique way to make sense of her group of loosely linked stories and ambiguous resolutions. Taoism as a tradition is concerned with conflicts and ambiguities, asserting that ambiguities themselves are significant and may point to the invisible core of life. Tan may weave elements of Taoism into the narrative to locate the "invisible core" of Chinese women's culture, of the immigrant family-- ...