Banyan Moon

The exploration of mother-daughter relationships across three generations of women highlights the impact of intergenerational trauma and the cyclical nature of familial relationships if left unexamined. There are two primary mother-daughter relationships in Banyan Moon: those between Minh and Hương and between Hương and Ann—both fraught in their own ways, particularly when all three characters live together. The resentment between Minh and Hương started when Hương was very young and an act of violence (Minh slapping Hương) became an early breaking point in their relationship. Hương’s negative feelings toward her mother intensified when she had to care for an increasingly destructive Phước without Minh’s help. By far the biggest point of resentment between Minh and Hương is the relationship that developed between Minh and Ann when Ann was a child. Hương felt left out and wondered why her mother seemed to find it so easy to love Ann and so difficult to love her. 

Giving each of the Tran women a narrative voice enables Thai to present multiple perspectives on the tension between them, creating a nuanced narrative. Ann’s relationship with Hương is similarly difficult for most of the book. Ann believes Hương prioritized her boyfriends over Ann and resents her for it, though Hương was actually trying to build a nuclear family to make up for killing Vinh. The moment that Hương slaps her daughter in anger mirrors the moment that Minh slapped Hương—a narrative parallel that emphasizes the way the tension in these two separate relationships is interconnected across three generations of women, connecting it to a larger, more universal context. There are many miscommunications between Ann and Hương. Ann believes that Hương does not care about her art, but in fact Hương has been carefully printing out Ann’s art for years. Ann also has almost exclusively positive memories of Minh, an idealized and not wholly accurate representation of who she was. Learning how unkind Minh was to Crystal helps Ann see her grandmother more clearly as a fully realized person.

Ann’s pregnancy allows her to consider her relationships with her mother and grandmother through a new perspective, opening a path toward healing for all three of them. During her pregnancy, Ann realizes that she will inevitably make mistakes when she is raising Kumquat. The impending challenges of motherhood help her start to work through her feelings toward Hương. The ending of the book does not provide a clear-cut resolution to all of the issues in these relationships. From beyond the grave, Minh regrets not being more loving toward Hương. Without Minh present, Ann and Hương are able to better understand each other. Nonetheless, they still argue, and there are still unanswered questions in their relationship. Ann hopes that Hương will take a more hands-off approach with the baby than Minh did, but for her part, Hương feels an intense love and protectiveness over Kumquat. Despite these challenges, the experience of living in and then losing the Banyan House helps Ann and Hương reach a place where they are willing to move forward together, even when things get difficult.