Joy Luck Club Hero's Journey Analysis

Every hero goes through a journey of their own according to Joseph Campbell in which he calls “The Hero’s Journey” . In the book The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, Jing Mei Woo or June embarks on a journey into finding herself beginning with her mother’s past ,which reflects how she transforms into a better person as a daughter. Along the way, June encounters many allies that guides her with the memories that her mother, Suyuan Woo, had left behind. She deals with inner conflicts and struggled to overcome them because she doubted her abilities which were results of her previous failures. After conquering her doubts through memories of her mother’s lessons, June sees her life in a different point of view. As she fought her way through the hindrances

The journey from Chongqing to America was one with many obstacles and Suyuan sacrificed so much for her daughter hoping that one day June will be successful. The support and care that Suyuan provided for June ended when she suddenly passes away which forces June discerns how little she actually knows about her own mother. This seemingly ordinary life of June disappears as she discovers her mother’s past which included siblings that have been abandoned and thus attempts to find her long lost sisters. This idea was brought up by the Aunties of the Joy Luck Club that her mother founded which can be seen as the call to an adventure. The purpose of this journey was not only to find her sisters but to also discover her mother for who Suyuan truly was. In June’s eyes, Suyuan was always impossible to please and she was never on the same page as her mother who believes a person could be anything they wanted in America-the land of opportunities. But as the Joy Luck Club reminds June of how smart, dutiful, and kind her

As June progresses through the journey into finding herself, she came to know that her mother wish was to reunite her sister with her family because after all Suyuan meant long-cherished wish. Suyuan was the person who gave her daughter the pendant that helped her overcome the obstacles and was the factor that furthermore boosted June’s confidence in recovering her mother’s wish. According to June, she was nothing like her mother but she has forgotten the bond that only blood related relatives share. There is only one fact that June could not change which helped her find her twins sisters and that was the unmistakable facial features that the daughters had in common with their mother. June says, “The gray-green surface changes...open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish”(332). When June met her sisters, it was not just because she wanted to fulfill her mother’s wishes but strengthen the bond because of the one thing they have in common which was they were all part of their mother, Suyuan. After all, her name Jing Mei meant the pure essence and little sister, which means that she was made up of the essence of her sisters. This was the reward that her mother had given Jing Mei, two sisters and all the love that Suyuan gave June which she had not realized before.