A bleak, ominous cloud quite often hovers over the hopeful heads of immigrants, and
waits surreptitiously to downpour at the most inopportune moments. Challenges can never be
perfectly avoided for immigrants fervently seeking to find freedom, security, and acceptance in
the lands and cultures of those who are vastly different from themselves. Barriers between
diverse, contrasting cultures can never be completely obliterated, therefore immigrants must
assimilate as successfully as they can into countries in which they have chosen to live and raise
their children. However, the obstructions separating immigrants and their cultures from the
inhabitants of their new residence can also serve a much more deprecating purpose. They often
impede upon immigrants’ relationships with their offspring. The children of immigrants
habitually accept and adopt the ways of their birthplace, leaving their parents exasperated and
bewildered. What immigrants feel to be the most significant aspects of their culture have been
whisked away by a merciless monsoon and distorted or rejected by their children. Thus is the
case with the Chinese mothers in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. Because the immigrant women
in this novel are Asian, as opposed to being English-speaking Europeans, they face great
difficulties in completely acclimating into the American setting. In addition to attempting to
assimilate, the women must also face bitter memories of Chinese society. However bitter these
memories may be, the women utilize their traditional Chinese beliefs in order to try to balance
their new homes and even gain their own freedom. They also attempt to confront some of their
assimilating tribulations by creating talk-stories,...
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...Pasadena,
CA: Salem Press, 2010. 48-63. Print.
Foster, M. Marie Booth. “Voice, Mind, Self: Mother-Daughter Relationships in Amy Tan’s The
Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God’s Wife.” Critical Insights: The Joy Luck Club by
Amy Tan. Ed. Robert C. Evans. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2010. 173-194. Print.
Hamilton, Patricia L. “Feng Shui, Astrology, and the Five Elements: Traditional Chinese Beliefs
In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club.” Critical Insights: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.
Ed. Robert C. Evans. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2010. 196-220. Print.
Hsu, Francis L. K. Americans and Chinese: Passage to Differences. Honolulu: The University
Press of Hawaii, 1981. Print.
Xu, Ben. “Memory and the Ethnic Self: Reading Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club.” The Joy Luck
Club by Amy Tan. Ed. Robert C. Evans. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2010. 93-111. Print.
i wish i could join in the universal praise for amy tan and her best-selling novel "the joy luck club." i wish i could find the latest chinese-american literary dish as appetizing as the rest of the american public does. but i can't. before amy tan entered the scene, public images of asian america had not developed since the middle of the century. the asian american male did not exist except as a barbaric japanese or vietcong soldier. the asian american female remained the adolescent suzy wong pipe dream, toyed with for a while and then deserted.
Amy Tan 's novel, The Joy Luck Club, explores the relationships and experiences of four Chinese mothers with that of their four Chinese-American daughters. The differences in the upbringing of those women born around the 1920’s in China, and their daughters born in California in the 80’s, is undeniable. The relationships between the two are difficult due to lack of understanding and the considerable amount of barriers that exist between them.
Many women find that their mothers have the greatest influence on their lives and the way their strengths and weaknesses come together. In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, the lives of four Chinese mothers and their Chinese-American daughters are followed through vignettes about their upbringings and interactions. One of the mothers, An-Mei Hsu, grows up away from her mother who has become the 4th wife of a rich man; An-Mei is forced to live with her grandmother once her mother is banned from the house, but eventually reunites and goes to live in the man’s house with her mother. Her daughter, Rose, has married an American man, Ted, but their marriage begins to end as he files for divorce; Rose becomes depressed and unsure what to do, despite her mother’s advice. An-Mei has strengths and weaknesses that shape her own courageous actions, and ultimately have an influence on her daughter.
Xu, Ben. "Memory and the Ethnic Self. Reading Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club."Meleus. Spring 1994: 3 -16.
In Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club, the character of An-mei learns to love and respect her mother. This essay will focus on the precise moment of the transformation of An-mei to a strong, self-confident woman.
The Joy Luck Club is an emotional tale about four women who saw life as they had seen it back in China. Because the Chinese were very stereotypic, women were treated as second class citizens and were often abused. Through sad and painful experiences, these four women had tried to raise their daughters to live the American dream by giving them love and support, such things which were not available to them when they were young. These women revealed their individual accounts in narrative form as they relived it in their memories. These flashbacks transport us to the minds of these women and we see the events occur through their eyes. There were many conflicts and misunderstandings between the two generations due to their differences in upbringing and childhood. In the end, however, these conflicts would bring mother and daughter together to form a bond that would last forever.
The American Dream is not fruitful for immigrants of color because they are misnomered as model minorities, despite the fact they still suffer from racial prejudice. While there was still racial tension in China, Suyuan Woo remarks that, “If it hadn’t been for the Japanese, there would have been plenty of reason for fighting to break among the different people,” describing the state of limbo before the Japanese invade Kweilin (Tan 22). Some Chinese Americans find that racial discrimination prevails more in America than in their homeland. Meghan Lee, a teenage Korean American, laments on ignorance surrounding her race she encounters on an almost daily basis. Being asked “What kind of Asian are you?” or “Where are you really from?” when she states the state of her birth,Virginia, epitomizes the inconsideration of Americans for those of non-native American descent. In The Joy Luck Club Rose Hsu Jordan encounters a similar situation when her significant other’s mother assu...
What does “movement” mean? There are many definitions for the word. In this case, I am referring to a political meaning. Movement is a series of organized activities working toward an objective. There have been many groups in history to start up movements throughout the decades. One that stands out to me the most is the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Women’s movements are led by powerful, courageous women who push to better the lives’ of women or lives’ of others. Most familiar movements are those involved in politics, in efforts to change the roles and status of womanhood in society. Groups of women also attempt to improve lives of others with the help of religious and charitable activities. Either it was a political, religious, or charitable women’s movement, each woman of each group have made an impact on today’s view of women and achieved greater political involvement.
Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club uses much characterization. Each character is portrayed in different yet similar ways. When she was raised, she would do whatever she could to please other people. She even “gave up her life for her parents promise” (49), I the story The Red Candle we get to see how Tan portrays Lindo Jong and how she is brought to life.
Traditions, heritage and culture are three of the most important aspects of Chinese culture. Passed down from mother to daughter, these traditions are expected to carry on for years to come. In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, daughters Waverly, Lena, Rose and June thoughts about their culture are congested by Americanization while on their quests towards self-actualization. Each daughter struggles to find balance between Chinese heritage and American values through marriage and professional careers.
During the beginning of the 20th century, the increase activity of the National Union Of Women attractive additional support of the suffrage movement. “However, it was possible to criticize the policy and tactics of the constitutional suffragist on several grounds. It was argued that the suffragists should have revolted in 1884, when the amendment to the reform bill of that year failed through the opposition of the liberal leadership, but the suffragists were too well mannered to do more protesting and concentrate all of their efforts on one private members bill.” The women suffrage’s organization could not force the political parties to adopt the cause of women’s suffrage and need a major party to pick up their campaign or there was no hope of a government bill. Women’s suffrages leaders saw that they need more of a drastic tactics to gain public awareness. Women started protesting by undergoing violence methods and tactics however, the National Union Of Women believed that any aggression or violence acts of protesting would only weaken the movement. These actions would persuade male’s voters that women are too emotional and thus could not be trusted with the responsible of voting. These gentle ways of protesting was unconvincing, as many political believed would give up or lose interests. The lack of actions cause many women to take strongest methods of protesting their rights and formed a more violent group called Suffragettes.
Just as with her books, Tan’s focus in this essay is her mother. Tan considered her book, The Joy Luck Club, a success after her mother read it and exclaimed over how easy it was to read. However, the audience of this essay is not Tan’s mother, but rather it is anyone who can relate to this situation. Tan’s purpose was to bring to attention the fact that when the language spoken at home is different from that spoken by the general public, problems will arise for those caught in...
In The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, the characters Suyuan and June have a mother-daughter relationship fraught with conflict, but ultimately rooted in deep love and commitment for one another. Because of drastic differences in the environments in which they were raised and in their life experiences, these two women have many opposing ideas and beliefs. This coupled with their lack of communication are responsible for many of the problems they encounter during the course of their relationship. These conflicts are only resolved when June learns about her mother's past and accepts their respective differences. The manner in which their relationship develops and the conflicts June and Suyuan face reveal some of the themes that Amy Tan intends for the readers to learn. These themes concern such topics as finding life's importance, making choices, and understanding ourselves and our families.
In the Joy Luck Club, the author Amy Tan, focuses on mother-daughter relationships. She examines the lives of four women who emigrated from China, and the lives of four of their American-born daughters. The mothers: Suyuan Woo, An-Mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-Ying St. Clair had all experienced some life-changing horror before coming to America, and this has forever tainted their perspective on how they want their children raised. The four daughters: Waverly, Lena, Rose, and Jing-Mei are all Americans. Even though they absorb some of the traditions of Chinese culture they are raised in America and American ideals and values. This inability to communicate and the clash between cultures create rifts between mothers and daughters.
The Joy Luck Club is a representation of the persistent tensions and powerful bonds between mother and daughter in a Chinese American society. The book illustrates the hardships both the mother and daughters go through in order to please the other. Also, it shows the troubles the daughters face when growing up in two cultures. This book reveals that most of the time mothers really do know best.