Mother-Daughter Relationships in The Joy Luck Club
In The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan explores mother-daughter relationships, and at a lower level, relationships between friends, lovers, and even enemies. The mother-daughter relationships are most likely different aspects of Tan's relationship with her mother, and perhaps some parts are entirely figments of her imagination. In this book, she presents the conflicting views and the stories of both sides, providing the reader--and ultimately, the characters--with an understanding of the mentalities of both mother and daughter, and why each one is the way she is.
The book is organized into four sections, two devoted to the mothers and two devoted to the daughters, with the exception of June. The first section, logically, is about the mothers' childhoods in China, the period of time during which their personalities were molded, giving the reader a better sense of their "true" selves, since later in the book the daughters view their mothers in a different and unflattering light. Tan does this so the reader can see the stories behind both sides and so as not to judge either side unfairly. This section, titled Feathers From a Thousand Li Away, is aptly named, since it describes the heritage of the mothers in China, a legacy that they wished to bestow on their daughters, as the little story in the beginning signifies. For many years, the mothers did not tell their daughters their stories until they were sure that their wayward offspring would listen, and by then, it is almost too late to make them understand their heritage that their mothers left behind, long ago, when they left China.
The second and third sections are about the daughters' lives, and the vignettes in each section trace their personality growth and development. Through the eyes of the daughters, we can also see the continuation of the mothers' stories, how they learned to cope in America. In these sections, Amy Tan explores the difficulties in growing up as a Chinese-American and the problems assimilating into modern society. The Chinese-American daughters try their best to become "Americanized," at the same time casting off their heritage while their mothers watch on, dismayed. Social pressures to become like everyone else, and not to be different are what motivate the daughters to resent their nationality. This was a greater problem for Chinese-American daughters that grew up in the 50's, when it was not well accepted to be of an "ethnic" background.
...position. What makes their role even more difficult is that they are continually faced with adversity from racial prejudice, which affects all aspects of their life, from gaining equal access to education to gaining employment. “Los Vendidos” displays a forced choice on whether they want to keep their heritage and remain proud or if they want to become a “carbon copy” American.
Mexico’s problems originally began upon the arrival of the Spanish in 1492, as illustrated in Major Problems in Mexican American History by Zaragosa Vargas as well as in the video documentary, Chicano!. The sequence of events which date back to the precolonial Spanish days and take place in Mexico’s history eventually provoke the national movement that called for social justice and equality, especially after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Then came the question of group and individual identity. Those of Mexican heritage were broken up into the groups "Chicanos," which were the ‘Americanized’ Mexicans or the Mexicans born in the United States, and the actual "Mexicans," who were the native born people which were discriminated against the most.
In Michelle's paper she recaps the history of Mexicans in the United States that was not completely dealt with in either the website or the movie. Michelle points out that the Latin@s history is essential to understanding the Mexicans experience. She also wrote of the Mexican's el movemiento and how the website and movie brought about different accounts of this momentous event.
Being the first medication to be approved by the FDA to fight against alcoholism, Antabuse took those suffering by storm and sent their bodies into a state of shock. Antabuse reacts with alcohol and affects the body’s central nervous system (CNS) by not being able to metabolize the acetaldehyde. (SAMHSA, 2009) Antabuse can also be considered an anti-craving medication because it increases dopamine and decreases norepinephrine in the body, reducing cravings to drink alcohol. (Vaccari et. al. 1996) The Antabuse/Alcohol reaction kicks in 10-30 minutes after the alcohol is consumed. (SAMHSA, 2009) Depending on how much alcohol is consumed, the severity of the reaction will differ. BACs of 5-10 mg will result in a mild reaction, where as BACs of 125 mg or more, the reaction could leave the patient unconscious. The Antabuse/Alcohol reaction can cause several different types of symptoms including; sweating, hyperventilation, blurred vision, nausea/vomiting, heart palpitations, confusion, and total body...
...cept of model Mexican Americans being traded, bartered, bought and sold for a price, as depicted in the play, is an accurate portrayal of what has taken place in Mexican American history. Mexican Americans have been accustomed to such inhumane acts and they continue to be looked upon as "Mexican" though their rights as citizens just as valid as the rights of any immigrant to this country. "Los Vendidos," or the sell-outs, had to familiarize themselves with the notion of selling short their heritage in order to establish a new heritage in this new land.
I will begin to examine the Mexican American ethnic group, probing the historical circumstances that impelled them to come to America, focusing on the structure and functioning of their family life to determine or, at least, to raise clues about how and why they have been able or unable to maintain an ethnic identification over the generations, and take a brief look ahead to being to speculate what the future endeavors are for this ethnic group and their constitutive families.
These movies show how the original image of Dr. Frankenstein’s creation has changed over time, and how he can be altered into many different forms. Contrary to popular belief, Frankenstein’s creation is not a huge, green, evil monster with neck bolts. The monster is a very enduring character, and his different qualities are shown in Frankenweenie and Edward Scissorhands. Both of the following films dab in the Gothic style, and portray the different qualities from the novel Frankenstein. From dogs to humans with scissor hands, Frankenstein’s monster appears in so many things in pop culture today.
On the other hand, as Vargas points out every aspect of the Chicano struggle, the documentary Chicano, began with the struggles of the Mexican American's in the 1960's. They give a brief background of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo but not about the events that lead to the treaty itself. Without reading Vargas, the first part of the documentary series would be confusing. It did help to see the emotions of the Chicanos and major figures in the resistance moveme...
Mexican American history began in the16th century under Spanish colonialism. The Spanish had a goal of conquest and colonization. Evidently, that goal was successfully accomplished because when the Spanish first arrived in 1492 Mexico’s population was fourteen million, but by the end of the 16th century it had drastically declined to one million. Numbers decreased because of the cruel treatment, forced labor, and disease brought by the Spanish. The Spanish eventually controlled most of the territory in the Southwest and over three hundred towns had been established for the purpose of control and conversion. The Spanish imposed conditions on the natives of Mexico that would belittle them. They aimed to convert them in order to make them re...
Citizens of the time consumed rampant amounts of absinthe because of the extremely high prices of wine. Because of the high prices, absinthe became a more affordable alternative; therefore the poor could still achieve intoxication and escape reality. Society in the 1800’s started to blame Absinthe for cultural fears about sexuality, madness, and aggression. As a result of the overwhelming popularity of the drink, the wine growers of the time period started losing money, so they in turn backed the Temperance Movement, which targeted Absinthe and blamed it f...
The language between a mother and a daughter can create a huge brick wall in their relationship because they have different views on life, and how they should handle it. In the book "The Joy Luck Club," by Amy Tan, a story is told of An-Mei Hus and her daughter Rose Hsu Jordan, who is going though a divorce. An- Mei wants her daughter, Rose, to try and save her marriage. But Rose knows it’s pointless to try and upon that she decides to learn to stick up for her self, get a lawyer, and fight her soon to be ex-husband for the house. The relationship between An-Mei Hsu and Rose Hsu Jordan shows that language is a brick wall, because they don’t understand why wants what they want. Rose doesn’t care to save her marriage; she only wants to get the house. When her mother, An-Mei, wants Rose to fight to save her marriage, because it’s the Chinese way, and how the only way to keep her honor among her family.
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.
"I have already experienced the worst. After this, there is no worst possible thing" (Amy Tan 121). Throughout The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan tells stories of how mothers use the misfortunes in their lives, to try to teach their daughters about life. Many of the mothers had bad experiences in their pasts and do not want to see their daughters live through the same types of problems. They try to make their daughters' lives as easy and problem free as possible. However, the daughters do not see this as an act of love, but rather as an act of control. In the end, the daughters realize that their mothers tried to use their experiences to teach them not to give up hope, and to look at the good of an experience rather than the bad.
Heuristics play role in the way we make decisions. These are mental shortcuts we use to help us make a decision, such as weighing the pros and cons of a situation, the cost, differences, and the benefits we receive from a specific item. There are many other factors that we use to make decisions. Kahneman and Tversky (1973) conducted a study that investigated the way judgmental heuristics play a role in making decisions. It can be inferred that decisions are made based on the evidence that is presented to them (Kahneman & Tversky 1973).
Indian film is known for its highly expressive acting, encompassing an array of emotions often times within very short time intervals. In fact, frequently referred to as ‘masala’, many Indian films cannot be classified under one general genre as is commonly done with Western films due to the variety of emotions and genre categories that are included within a single film (Dudrah 2006: 49). ‘The very swiftness of the transition from one to another, that to a Western eye may seem improbable, is a mark of a film-maker’s skill, of including something for everybody while maintaining the film’s...