It means we're looking one way, while following another. We're for one side and also the other. We mean what we say, but our intentions are different.
Amy TanWriting is an extreme privilege but it's also a gift. It's a gift to yourself and it's a gift of giving a story to someone.
Amy TanNo one in my family was a reader of literary fiction. So, I didn't have encouragement, but I didn't have discouragement, because I don't think anybody knew what that meant.
Amy TanI had always assumed we had an unspoken understanding about these things: that she didn't really mean I was a failure, and I really meant I would try to respect her opinions more. But listening to Auntie Lin tonight reminds me once agian: My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated each other's meanings and I seemed to hear less than what was said, while my mother heard more. No doubt she told Auntie Lin I was going back to school to get a doctorate.
Amy Tan