Achieving Understanding in Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club
In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club the daughters are too young and naive to understand their mothers and the hardship they faced. But by the end on the novel the daughters are able to understand where their mothers came from through stories and experiences the mothers tell the daughters their background. This shows that the daughters overall understood the mothers better because through time they were able to experience some of the same conflicts giving them a better understanding.
While Jing-Mei Woo is only one of four young women whose stories integrate the novel, her story makes her seem to be the initial character, especially since her tale not only begins and ends the novel, but also strongly develops the theme and plot of the entire book. Her mother, Suyuan Woo was very concerned with people and things they lacked, "Something was always missing...always needed improvements...not in balance" (19). This reveals that Suyuan is lacking something herself and feels not good enough for her family. We later discover her past and the twin girls she left behind in China. This past life draws readers and makes the story more interesting but a little confusing at the same time. This past comes back to Jing-Mei when her mother dies and Jing-Mei begins to understand how hard it is to let go of the people you love, which makes her become more open, understanding and mature. She lost a mother she got to share her life with, but like her half sisters, they didn't understand their mother until she was gone to share the experience of being reunited. In a sense, her spirit was there to capture their happiness of finally meeting one another.
Although Waverly Jong is perceived in being an intelligent, ambitious, proud, and arrogant, she is constantly struggling with everything that happens in her life. Her unwillingness to adapt to change becomes a major conflict. "Bite back your tongue"(89) her mother's harshness on her while growing up may have caused her lack of self-confidence foiled but assurance. Not only that caused her to resent her mother but the way she introduced her to perfect strangers, "This is my daughter Waver-ly Jong"(101) just to tell people or make reference to the TIME article on Waverly cause her to become upset.
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.
French Foreign Policy and the Coming of War During this critical time not much attention was turned to France, as the entire spotlight was on Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement and Hitler’s aims. The Orthodox view of France was described as of a deeply divided and politically unstable country, which was obsessed with security and defense. France was definitely not ready for war, and therefore eagerly agreed to the policy of appeasement. It preferred negotiating with Germany at this stage rather than fighting it.
...mbers due to an unfortunate circumstance and struggles to b accepted once again and regain her dignity. An-Mei’s daughter Rose also learns a lesson of acceptance as well as self-worth when it comes to the end of her marriage. Rose was never accepted by her husband’s wealthy family from the beginning due to her Asian heritage however her husband loves her so dearly that he marries her regardless of his parent’s opinions. As their life together progresses, Rose finds herself worrying less and less about making herself happy and losing her own opinions which ultimately cause her husband to lose interest in her. As they file for divorce rose continues to try to save the marriage but soon realizes with the help of her mother that she is better than that and should stand up for herself for once. In the end this newly gained self-confidence is what saves her marriage.
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.
when Capulet leaves in a rage and Juliet is in tears. Act 3 scene 5
The Way Juliet Feels in Act 3 Scene 2 of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
The Joy Luck Club is the telling of a tale of struggle by four mothers and their four daughters trying to understand the issue of gender identity, how they each discover or lose their sense of self and what they mean to one another. Throughout the book each of the mothers works hard at teaching their daughters the virtues of Chinese wisdom while allowing the opportunities of American life. They try passing on a piece of themselves despite the great barriers that are built between the women. Each of the stories gives a wonderful glimpse into the Chinese culture and heritage that the mothers are trying to reveal to their daughters through the use of festivals, food dishes, marriage ceremonies, and the raising of children, essentially their past experiences.
There are numerous conditions in human life that mold people into who they presently are. A person's identity and way of thinking are influenced greatly due to their family's surroundings, and relationships they are involved in. In the novel, The Joy Luck Club, the characters are generic, in the sense that, although they are from different families, the problems and emotions experienced are similar. The daughters are in an on-going search to discover themselves, who they are and what they represent. With their precious mother-daughter bonds, four immig...
This book gives a great overview of what rape is and how it affects women. It mentions how rape is a crime of violence and not a crime of passion. It also talks about how women deal with rape and how to help them. It also goes through the politic...
The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, is a novel which consists of stories about the lives of four Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters. The stories are about each of the character’s struggles adapting to American society and how it affects each individual's personalities to the person they have become. This process of adaption is seen through one of the daughters named Rose. Rose’s inability to make decisions is due to her fear of the future responsibilities she has to hold if misfortunes occur. This part of her personality is shown through the events that impacted her such as her brother’s death as well as her marriage and divorce with Ted.
... and in her hurry to get away, she (falls) before she even reach(s) the corner,” (87). This foreshadows the relationship between the mothers and daughters in The Joy Luck Club. The daughters can not understand the reasoning behind their mothers’ decisions. However, the mothers realize their daughters are so much like them and they do not want this to happen. The daughters grow up being “Americanized,” but as they grow older they begin to want to understand their Chinese culture. All of the characters learned many valuable lessons that will be passed on to their own children.
...Also an important quote is when she says, "But today I realize I've never really known what it means to be Chinese. I am thirty-six years old" (857). Even though she was in her 30's and still had that identity crisis, it was uplifting knowing that all it took for her to resolve that conflict was one meeting with her sisters.
The theme that comes to mind for me when I read this story is conflicting values. While growing up it was an important value to Jing-mei to be accepted for the daughter that she was. Unlike the value of her mother which was to not only become the best you can be but a prodigy, someone famous. In the way that Jing-mei's mother pushes so hard for her to become something bigger than she was it seems that Jing-mei tried her hardest not to.
Development in relationships provokes the teaching of valuable life lessons. Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club, published in 1989, delineates the progressive development in the mother daughter relationships and the lack offs impact on an individual. The novel illustrates the tensions between mother and daughter through a lack of communication- illuminating that communication reaches prosperity only when understanding has been established. Tan furthermore emphasises, the motherly supremacy as a contribution to a daughter’s tireless urge to instil acceptance.
The Joy Luck Club is a representation of the persistent tensions and powerful bonds between mother and daughter in a Chinese American society and is written by Amy Tan. 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. Throughout all of the Jing-Mei Woo stories, June has to recall all of the memories of what her mother had told her. She remembers how her mother left her babies during the war. Junes mother felt that since she had failed as a mother to her first babies she had failed as a person. When she made June take piano lessons June thought that she was trying to make her become a child prodigy like Waverly, but her mother did this because she knew it would benefit June for the rest of her life. Because of the death of her mother, June was forced to take the place of her mother in more than just filling her place at the Maj Jong table. The mother daughter tradition was broken because the lost babies were found after the death of their mother. Junes trip to China can be seen as the completion of her mothers promise to return, honoring her sisters by attempting to transfer what she had absorbed from her mother and her tradition. And I think, My mother is right.