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How does literature shape our world when it comes to culture
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Ghosts, both figurative and literal, are very common in the Joy Luck Club and are a recurring theme in the book. The mothers of The Joy Luck Club were all raised in traditional Chinese households, which has influenced them to have deeper feelings about ghosts. Mentally, the term ghost is used to describe people who have become a shell of their former selves and rarely speak or do anything. Physically, ghost is used to describe the spirit of the dead. This is the basis of the mothers and others to be scared of the thought of becoming a ghost figuratively and literally. Christianity is the basis of physical fear of ghosts and traditional Chinese beliefs cause the mental fear of ghosts, this stimulates the thought of the afterlife to be
Lewiston, Idaho, once an important port for miners traveling in search of gold, is now a town of about 30,000 people. Few of the people who live in the Lewis-Clark Valley speak of its over one hundred year history. However, there are still parts of the community where one can explore and see the age of the town. Downtown Lewiston is one of a few areas where people can go exploring. They wander the streets, admiring the buildings that stand proudly above them. One building in particular ties a unique history into the downtown area. Morgan’s Alley stands at the corner of Main Street and D Street, overlooking the cars and people passing by. On the outside, it looks like an ordinary, older building. On the inside, it holds secrets of the past and possibly a ghost.
Despite the obvious scientific inaccuracy, the idea of ghosts is very important for a person going through tough times, especially when ones family members have died. This is because it establishes permanence in that person; they are no longer merely a body that lies six feet underground but rather a spirit watching down from the sky. In Isabel’s case, it establishes comfort in the sense that her mother is protecting her, because her mother would never let anything bad happen to her. However, it is slightly symbolic that “ghosts couldn’t move
The definition of the “ghost” is a shadow which wandering among or haunting other people. The villagers called her aunt a ghost because they are scared of her behavior. The life that they know had been attacked. Kingston uses the harsh responses of the villagers indirectly exposes her aunt ‘s challenge to the society.
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.
This ghost story was told by a nineteen-year-old Caucasian student at the University of Maryland. She is from the Baltimore Metro Area and lives with her mother and younger sister. I decided to approach her since she is a notorious lover of ghost stories and folklore. While we were hanging out with friends, I asked her to tell me a ghost story. As soon as I asked, her eyes lit up and she took me to the side, out of earshot of our friends. With great energy and enthusiastic facial expressions, she proceeded to tell me the following story about the Civil War site of the Battle of Gettysburg:
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.
In horror movies there is always the antagonist. The evil spirit or monster that is attempting and sometimes succeeding in killing some of the characters off. There is always the good versus evil. There is a difference between how the good versus evil is depicted. American movies focus on the idea that the good and evil fight and that the good should defeat the evil. On the other hand, Japanese movies tend to focus on the balance of everything. There is always a reason that the ghost or monster is haunting/killing people in the movie. That reason is usually related to the ghost trying to bring back the balance that was lost with their death or with something that went wrong before or after their death. The spirits aren’t seen as enemies but as a thing that coexists with
The Joy Luck Club, is a film that shows a powerful portrayal of four Chinese women and the lives of their children in America. The film presents the conflicting cultures between the United States and China, and how men treat women throughout their lives. People living in the United States usually take for granted their roles as a male or female. The culture of each country shapes the treatment one receives based on the sex of the individual. Gender roles shape this movie and allows people, specifically the United States, to see how gender are so crutcial in othe countries.
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.
Chinese culture has many interpretations ghosts. One way they are seen as is people who have disgraced their family or country. An example of this in the novel is Maxine's aunt. She is considered a ghost because she disgraced her family by having a baby outside of marriage. They call her "Ghost! Dead ghost! Ghost! You have never been born." (Kinston 14) She drowns herself in the well to become one of the most feared ghost, the Shui Gui or watery ghost. These ghosts are said to be waiting for their victims, to pull them into the water to take the drowned ones place. In the novel another example of what the Chinese consider ghosts are American people. Sometimes they feel haunted by this unfamiliar culture, just as a ghost would haunt. "But America has been full of machines and ghosts- Taxi Ghosts, Bus Ghosts, Police Ghosts, Fire Ghosts, Meter Reader Ghosts, Tree Trimming Ghosts, Five-and-Dime Ghosts." (Kong 96) These examples are American people of any ethnicity. They are called ghosts because the Chinese are not familiar with the culture. Another example of the unfamiliarity is when, "Her husband looked like one of the ghosts passing the car wind...
The Nelly Butler hauntings is referred to as the first recorded ghost story in American history (LiBrizzi 5), and possibly the most exciting hauntings to date as there are still many unsolved mysteries. The apparition appeared on more than 30 separate occasions to over 100 witnesses in Sullivan, Maine, just over fifteen years after the American Revolution (5-6). Although the Nelly Butler apparition is one of the most convincing ghosts of all time, it was subject to suspicions of fraud. These claims turn out to be groundless as the evidence reveals the ghost to be genuine.
The Joy Luck Club defines a ghost as someone who has been deceased. Instead, they are a mere representation of people who cannot be talked about. Having an opinion in the Chinese culture means that you have decided to go against your elders. For example, An-mei’s mother is personified as “a ghost” in “Scar,” not because she is dead or she wants to seek vengeance, but because she has committed a shameless taboo that exiles her from her family’s home. She has married a man outside her family, who previously had children. This intolerable act causes An-Mei’s mother to be seen as unfaithful. The family bans all of An-Mei’s memories because she would be a clear disgrace to her two children, who in the future would display the same selfish behavior and cause a bad reputation to their family.
For many years, people have debated whether or not spirits are real. Some people get scared at the fact that there might be something unknown lurking in their house in the middle of the night making their footsteps known to everyone in it. Maybe that person feels watched upon or feel some kind of presence in their home, or even sees shadows moving their way through rooms. Different people around the world have their own opinions based on religion and experiences when talking about angels, demons, and the spirits that have life after death. New technology is getting closer to detecting these energies happening in the world today. The history of haunting dates back many years, and more people want to get involved because of the new technology.
Dead ghost! Ghost! You 've never been born." This was said by the villagers because she and her son, "little ghost" was an outcast. According to traditional Chinese belief a ghost is the spirit form of a person who has died due to misfortune, then comes back for revenge. This theme of judgment got worse because through the concept of orientalism because the aunt was at first considered an outcast and then it got worse and everyone wanted her to become a ghost, to be dead as if she never existed. This was done by the way the citizens viewed the aunt for her "sin". They emphasized her being dead when they raided the home "the people with long hair hung it over their faces." Which is what the Chinese people viewed the ghost as Kingston explains that her aunt drowned her child with her because she knew that her child would grow up to be a pariah and wanted to spare it the shame that had killed her, made her a ghost, even before she died. She could have abandoned her child but in the village culture "mothers who love their children take them along." The protagonist also suggests that the baby was a girl because males were the preferred sex and if it was a male her aunt would have abandoned the baby for the village to take care of
a dull grey colour as if it had lost the will to live and stopped