Lena St. Clair: Rice Husband; The Joy Luck Club-Amy Tan; hyperbole

     Lena has married a man named Harold Livotny; this chapter, Lena tells a story from her childhood that relates to her troublesome marriage.  In her marriage to Harold, they share expenses and did not combine their money.  When Lena was a young girl her mother told her that the more rice she left in her bowl the worse the man she would marry would be.  Ying-Ying warned her daughter to eat all her rice.

" 'Aii, Lena,' she said after that dinner so many years ago, 'your future husband have one pock mark for every rice you not finish.' "

Ying-Ying uses this hyperbole to enforce the idea that Lena should finish her rice.  This is like other persuasions parents use to get their children to finish their food.  For avid sport children parents will say the food "makes them stronger," with others they say they will not have dessert if they do not finish everything on their plate.

     Lena's mother is spending some time at Harold's and Lena's home until they are done renovating hers.  When Ying-Ying accidentally knocked over a vase and it broke, Lena said it was alright she knew it would break.  Her mother asked why she didn't try to fix it.  Ying-Ying was implying that she should try to fix her marriage.