This concept dovetails with the theme of appearance and reality, as well. The three sisters are their mother — and yet they are not. They look like her, yet they do not. Tan resolves the disparity by implying that there is no difference between appearance and reality: They are the same thing. Furthermore, such notions don't really matter; all that counts is the blood, the heritage. In effect, Jing-mei has bridged the generation gap.
Ironically, Jing-mei became like her mother long before she was aware of it. Like her mother, she was determined to get her money's worth. She was furious at what she perceives to be a mistake in their hotel booking. "I had explicitly instructed my travel agent to choose something inexpensive, in the thirty-to-forty-dollar range. I'm sure of this," she fumes. "Well, our travel agent had better be prepared to eat the extra, that's all I have to say." Her feelings match those of her mother when she had to deal with recalcitrant tenants or the local fish merchants. This characterization also serves to tie together the theme of transformations and the motif of the fairy tale.
Although the story of the half-sisters is based on truth, it has the ring of a fairy tale. Recall how Tan describes the twin babies as "little fairy queens waiting for their sedan to arrive." In keeping with this motif, the twins are left with jewels and money and possess a placid, regal nature. They sit quietly by the side of the road. As in a fairy tale, the princesses are taken in by honest peasants who raise them as their own children. The peasants see the girls as a sign of double good luck because they are twins. It's a classic fairy tale: the fairy queens left by the side of the road to be raised by poor peasants in a cave. The recognition scene also picks up on a fairy tale ending: like Cinderella, it involves shoes. Tan adds a contemporary twist that is a delicious bit of humor: the twins are shopping for shoes in a department store, not trying on shoes left behind at a ball, when they are discovered and recognized as being the daughters of the courageous Suyuan.
The structure of the ending unifies the book. Not only does this chapter pick up where the first chapter left off, but it also uses the same point of view and narrator. It continues the use of parallelism evident throughout the book, but most especially in "Feathers from a Thousand Li Away." Technical considerations aside, The Joy Luck Club is storytelling at its very best.
