wanting to hear all that her mother has to say. The reader cannot help but feel the burden the daughter will be sharing with the mother. And while the plight of the mother is real, the reader cannot ignore how the isolation and loneliness of this type of community, or lack there of, has effected Tome's judgment in mothering. The nature of the relationship between mother and daughter is exposed immediately through the first conversation. As Tome reveals Ume to her daughter, she clearly wants Rosie to share in her understanding of her life and passion, and stretches her imagination to believe that this might be possible for a girl in her early teens. Even through the daughter’s perspective, it is obvious how although the mother expects and wishes for her daughter to understand, Tome suspects by the shallow responses that Rosie gives, how little Rosie either comprehends or cares. Rosie's politeness is an obvious sign to her that at the very least, she does not want to hurt her mother’s feelings. The next significant conversation between mother and daughter comes at the end; where family the mother shares secrets about herself that normally would not be shared with someone so young. Even Rosie perceives this awkwardness, as she thinks that hearing this information from her mother may actually "level her life, her world to the very ground."(Yamamoto 390) Rosie's anticipation, rightly so, that her perception of her parents will never be the same. The isolation that Cheung describes, which drives mothers to choose their often preoccupied daughters as confidants can be destructive to both people involved. The daughter may learn things about which she is not emotionally capable of processing, and the mother may later feel guilt for affecting her daughter's life in such a profoundly negative way. The promises that she expects of Rosie are too much to ask of a daughter and when Tome realizes the absurdity of asking her young teen daug...
