Quote 13
I think about this. My mother’s long-cherished wish. Me, the younger sister who was supposed to be the essence of the others. I feed myself with the old grief, wondering how disappointed my mother must have been. (IV.4.95)
Jing-mei was the embodiment of her mother’s hope.
Quote 14
I’m shaking, trying to hold something inside. The last time I saw them, at the funeral, I had broken down and cried big gulping sobs. They must wonder how someone like me can take my mother’s place. A friend once told me that my mother and I were alike, that we had the same wispy hand gestures, the same girlish laugh and sideways look. When I shyly told my mother this, she seemed insulted and said, "You don’t even know little percent of me! How can you be me?" And she’s right. How can I be my mother at Joy Luck? (I.1.37)
Jing-mei is anxious about being a replacement for her mother.
Quote 15
And although we don’t speak, I know we all see it: Together we look like our mother. Her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish. (IV.4.146)
Jing-mei fulfills her mother’s greatest desire. She also realizes that between the three sisters, they look like, and are like, their mother; so the mother is alive in her daughters even after her death.