Celebrating Life and Bonding Through The Joy Luck Club

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No matter the circumstances they are facing or the state in life the fourth mothers are in, they always find a way to celebrate and enjoy the most out of life through their Joy Luck Club, and every small custom brings them closer to home, even if they are thousands of miles away. To the mothers in the novel particularly, a party is not just a time of relaxation and relief to let loose the stress life has given them, but a way of bonding and strengthening connections with the families they have and the friendships they have formed over the years. Hosted in the Hsus’ house, Jing-Mei remarks how “eating is not a gracious event here. It’s as though everybody had been starving.. They are not like the ladies of Kweilin...who..savoured their food with a certain detached delicacy.” (20-21) The mention of Kweilin leads back to how the mothers in the past had started their tradition of the Joy Luck Club of feasting on food lavishly and loudly playing mahjong while war erupted by their doorsteps started as a way of making the most out of what they have, cherishing friendships and the fortunate things they have received in their lives even when tragedy strikes.

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