Similar Roles of Mothers and Daughters in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club
The Joy Luck Club, a novel by Amy Tan, is structured in an unusual way. It is divided into four different sections. Each section has four stories told by four different women. In the first section all the mothers, in the Joy Luck Club, talk about their childhood. In the next two sections the daughters talk about their childhood and their experiences through life. In the last section the four mothers speak about the stories of when they were younger, around their daughters' age. This novel explores countless topics. Not only does it deal with gender identity and the relationships between Chinese-American cultures, but it also deals with mother daughter relationships. Amy Tan shows us how mothers and daughters mirror each other. Every daughter in this novel hears about their mother's life and sees some comparisons to her own life. "All women are daughters and must resolve the conflicts inherent in the mother/daughter relationship if they are to understand themselves an ultimately to establish their own identity". (Internet 1)
No matter how old they get, mothers and daughters play similar roles. Even though an individual may not consciously do things that their mothers have taught/ inherit from them, they still act the same in some respects. An example of this would be GuYing-ying (Betty) St. Clair and Lena St. Clair. Both of these characters tell their stories. These stories, in ways, sound very similar to each other. Ying-ying's story is called the Moon Lady. In this story, Ying-ying learns a truth and in some ways becomes a different person. As Ying-ying sat on the edge of the boat the firecrackers went off. She fell off the boat and found herself lost in a large body of water. She is discovered in the water and is brought to shore where she finds her family. Later she sees the moon lady and wants to make a wish. The moon lady is similar to a shooting star. You only get one wish and it only appears once in a great while. However, when she sees the moon lady she discovers something. "I could see the face of the moon lady: shrunken cheeks, a broad oily nose, large glaring teeth, and red stained eyes. A face so tires that she she wearily pulled off her hair, her long gown fell from her shoulders and as the secret wish fell from my lips, the moon lady looked at me and became a man" (83) Ying-ying discovers that things aren't always what they appear to be.
In conclusion, this essay analyzes the similarities and differences of the two stories written by Herman Melville, Billy Budd and Bartleby. The settings, characters, and endings in the two stories reveal very interesting comparisons and contrasts. The comparison and contrast also includes the interpretation of the symbolism that Melville used in his two stories. The characters, Billy and Bartleby, could even be considered autobiographical representatives of Herman Melville.
Throughout Asian American literature there is a struggle between Asian women and their Asian American daughters. This is the case in The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan and also in the short story "Waiting for Mr. Kim," written by Carol Roh-Spaulding. These two stories are very different, however they are similar in that they portray Asian women trying to get their American daughters to respect their Asian heritage. There are certain behaviors that Asian women are expected to have, and the mothers feel that their daughters should use these behaviors.
Here is a journey that not only started "a thousand Li away", but from generations upon generations of tradition. The Joy Luck Club travels over time and continents to present the background and turmoil of eight amazing women. All of these women have had to deal with the issues of culture, gender, and family, each in their own way, yet all similarly. Amy Tan dedicates her novel to her mother with the comment "You asked me once what I would remember… This, and much more." Each of the mothers in Tan's novel wanted to teach their daughters the lessons learned in China while giving them the comforts of America. But language and culture barriers diverge the women until they were almost lost to each other. Each character had to take their own journey to finally understand what drove them apart and find their common ground.
Melville, Herman, and Herman Melville. Bartleby ; And, Benito Cereno. New York: Dover Publications, 1990. Print.
Analysis: Melville's Great American Novel draws on both Biblical and Shakespearean myths. Captain Ahab is "a grand, ungodly, god-like man … above the common" whose pursuit of the great white whale is a fable about obsession and over-reaching. Just as Macbeth and Lear subvert the natural order of things, Ahab takes on Nature in his
Herman Melville’s stories of Moby Dick and Bartleby share a stark number of similarities and differences. Certain aspects of each piece seem to compliment each other, giving the reader insight to the underlying themes and images. There are three concepts that pervade the two stories making them build upon each other. In both Moby Dick and Bartleby the main characters must learn how to deal with an antagonist, decide how involved they are in their professions, and come to terms with a lack of resolution.
... Simplicity seems to be something that Melville negates in his writing. Much like philosophers of his time who wrote on metaphysics, he believed that beneath what looked to be simple things there were always more complicated, and in turn much more true, answers that needed to be sought out. His book, when read merely from the standpoint of a tale of a crew, their ship, and the sea, has many themes. But these themes multiply exponentially when the metaphysical implications of Melville’s tightly woven words are considered. Perhaps this was his intention. As his narrator, his voice throughout the novel, says, “Such, and so magnifying, is the virtue of a large and liberal theme! We expand to its bulk. To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme (104).”
Throughout Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club, the reader can see the difficulites in the mother-daughter relationships. The mothers came to America from China hoping to give their daughters better lives than what they had. In China, women were “to be obedient, to honor one’s parents, one’s husband, and to try to please him and his family,” (Chinese-American Women in American Culture). They were not expected to have their own will and to make their own way through life. These mothers did not want this for their children so they thought that in America “nobody [would] say her worth [was] measured by the loudness of her husband’s belch…nobody [would] look down on her…” (3). To represent everything that was hoped for in their daughters, the mothers wanted them to have a “swan- a creature that became more than what was hoped for,” (3). This swan was all of the mothers’ good intentions. However, when they got to America, the swan was taken away and all she had left was one feather.
Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club describes the lives of first and second generation Chinese families, particularly mothers and daughters. Surprisingly The Joy Luck Club and, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts are very similar. They both talk of mothers and daughters in these books and try to find themselves culturally. Among the barriers that must be overcome are those of language, beliefs and customs.
Before exploring Ishmael, Ahab, and Moby Dick and their Biblical counterparts, it is important to understand Melville's background. He grew up as a baptized Calvinist in the Dutch Reformed Church. His parents trained him to obey God at all times, even if God’s commands seem unjust and cruel. However, he quickly turned against his faith after his father died. During his travels, he witnessed diseases, catastrophes, and hatred throughou...
...thout writing fiction novels. The narrator is a symbol for Melville’s readers, and poor Bartleby is a symbol for Melville. The narrator demands Bartleby to keep copying his work, but Bartleby has stated numerous times that he “would prefer not to”. Melville is against writing more fiction because he did not want to cheapen the means of his fiction. In the end, none of Melville’s works after “Moby Dick” became popular and he ended up dying in poverty and obscurity, very similarly to Bartleby.
My love for tennis blossomed at the young age of eleven. During middle school my peers knew me as the boy who was remarkably talented at tennis and I savored that title. Butterflies floated throughout my youthful body whenever someone complimented me. As the years passed, my dad nurtured me into a top player. Before I knew it high school arrived and it was time to compete at a higher level. My excitement was out of this world, but I knew my dad could no longer push me forward and my future was up to me. However, the ego I developed over the years blocked what lie in front of me. I wasn’t looking at the bigger picture; the hard work demanded of me, teamwork, and the motivation to reach an ultimate goal. Throughout my four years of participating
Understanding science and religion historically most individuals would assume that the two differ more than they relate. For decades, there has been the overwhelming debate about the differences between science and religion, and the issues that have set them apart from each other. However, personally, when it comes to the views, and goals of the two they share very similar ideologies and attributes.
Hearing the loud “thump” as the ball hits the racket is extremely satisfying, especially if your life now revolves around this fast-paced and exhilarating sport. Tennis is an outdoor game played by two individuals or pairs of players on a clay or grass court that’s divided by a low net. Each game is played with tennis rackets and small, yellow elastic balls. Tennis was first introduced in Wales and the United Kingdom in 1873 by “Major Walter Wingfield” (tennistheme.com). While most sports are easy to pick up, tennis takes extreme dedication to learn how to play the game, to perfect the amount of technique it takes, as well as its great impact on one’s personal life.
Frame, Randy. "Evolution: Pope Says Evolution More than a Hypothesis." Christianity Today. December 9, 1996. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1996/december9/6te072.html (accessed December 19, 2011).