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.