And for all those years, we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible accusations afterward at the piano bench. All that remained unchecked, like a betrayal that was now unbreakable. So I never found a way to ask her why she had hoped something so large that failure was inevitable. And even worse, I never asked her what frightened me the most: Why had she given up hope? Amy Tan
About This Quote

In this quote, the author describes a devastating tragedy in which her father dies. However, the author never asks her mother what happened or how he died. This is a very important question to ask at a time like this. Why did your parents want you to have hope? Why did it matter so much? Why did they want you to have hope at all? In the end, the only way for them to get over that tragedy was to bury it. Why did they choose that path? The author never asks these questions because she had been too young when the accident had happened and too scared of disappointing her mother to ask anything but superficial questions after the fact.

Source: The Joy Luck Club

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