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The lucky club relationship between the mothers and daughters
. The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan characterization
The lucky club relationship between the mothers and daughters
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The Art of Invisible Strength
Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club is a truly rich novel. The concept of "invisible strength" caught my interest in particular, so I have chosen to analyze the relationship between Lindo, her daughter Waverly and Waverly's boyfriend Rich. My questions are how Lindo achieved this strength, why she did it and how it effected herself, Waverly and Rich.
It is fundamental to the analysis to investigate Lindo's past in China. It is clear that she is a much loved child. "In my case, people could see my value. I looked and smelled like a precious buncake, sweet with a good clean color"(42). In my opinion, that kind of self-worth comes from unconditional love. This helps her when she is left at twelve by her family. She must stay with the Huangs, whose son she is promised to in marriage, even though it almost kills her. " I once sacrificed my life to keep my parents' promise"(41). In China, at the beginning of the 20th century, there was no escape from such a promise.
Lindo is devastated by her loss, the hard work and the prison-like life with the Huang family. At sixteen her much feared wedding day comes. As she dresses, she sees her reflection in the mirror. She suddenly becomes aware of her own strength. "I would always remember my parents' wishes, but I would never forget myself "(51). This is a defining moment. She regains her lost self-worth and never loses it again. When a candle ceremony is performed to ensure a lasting marriage, she secretely blows out her husband's flame, which is a strong act of rebellion. The marriage turns out to be a disaster and Mrs Huang is very displeased with the lack of grandchildren. After a while Lindo develops an escape plan; to make the Huangs believe that the dead...
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...ina, to be her own person, is what she is ultimately denying Waverly. "And I think, How can she be her own person? When did I give her up?"(253). She has taught Waverly the art of invisible strength, but she does not allow her to use it.
Lindo has fought an entire misogynic culture to gain strength and to free herself, but ends up with this unhealthy bond to her daughter. Waverly is equally bound to her mother and perceives the world in black or white, lost in a world of endless choices, forever wavering (!) between extremes, unable to love people for who they are. Rich is caught in the fire between the two, without even knowing it. The final conclusion is that mother and daughter are forever caught in a war with no winner. It may be the art of invisible strength, but it lacks wisdom.
Works cited:
Tan, Amy The Joy Luck Club Cambridge University Press 2004
She doesn't face her problems or try to fix them. Waverly and her mother are constantly fighting and disagreeing with each other because of her mother's boastful pride. This conflict continues to build up until Waverly is no longer able to take it and runs away. When Waverly's mother boasts to others about Waverly's success in chess, Waverly "raced down the street, dashing between people, not looking back as [her] mother screamed shrilly" (Tan 23). This shows that Waverly runs away from her conflicts. Because her mother is so proud, she boasts to everyone about Waverly. This annoys Waverly because she feels embarrassed about her mother always showing her pride
Precious and her family members are invisible to the larger world because they don’t posses any skill that enables them to make even the slightest difference in the world. The tests that Precious take show her lack of intelligence and only amplify her inferiority to the people around her. When you’re invisible, nobody treats you with respect; in the beginning of the book, everyone treats Precious like worthless trash. Though, later, she becomes visible again through the people she meets at the alternative school, and the birth of her second baby, Abdul.
From being able to save up money to buy a car and move out to West Virginia and then leaving the responsibility of finances and income to her children, Rose Mary Wall’s helped put Jeanette and her siblings through a hard and tough childhood. Although, a debate could be made that with all the awful impacts that the mother had on her children, all she really did was actually positively influence them to be able to conquer any hardship that they may face in their life. In the end, Rose Mary Wall’s character of being independent, unreasonable, and stubborn did both positively and negatively impact her children’s lives through the hardships they all faced
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The major themes related directly to the entire context of the story. The formidable mother-daughter conflict going on throughout the story exposed the clash of their cultural roots. The conflict showed the theme where the mother does not understand the game of chess and does not accept Waverly playing it. Also, it showed it when Waverly felt embarrassed by her mother using her as a trophy metaphorically. Another theme is the symbolic games of chess that Waverly played. Without the use of symbolism the story would have lost a major impact on the plotline. Also, Amy Tan used setting to her advantage to fully show the tone of the story and created a scene of emotion. Its major theme of mother-daughter relationship made it possible for young children to relate the short story to their own
The mother realizes then that the young boys, the future "Generals" who will soon live as men do "playing war", are far from innocent. Her rite of passage is a complete and sad transition from the mother of a child that she has some control over to the parent of an independent man, who will make his own choices and fight his own battles.
Waverly's family is below the poverty level. They live in a flat above a pastry shop in Chinatown, and the Christmas presents she received are from people just giving old possessions away. The chess set that her two brothers receives is even missing two pieces. Waverly's mother first shows her overbearing pride when she tells the brothers to throw the chessboard away because it is just a pity gift that some Americans just want to throw away. "She not want it. We not want it,' she said, tossing her head stiffly to the side with a tight proud smile" (161). The mother is just ignorant sometimes. She is ignorant because she has to show others she has dignity and pride. Waverly's mother needs to do this because deep down she actually has none at all. Many times when people do not have something, they pretend that they really do possess a lot of something. Waverly's mother is so ashamed about her lack of pride and dignity, she uses her position of power to portray to her children that she did. She uses her children to make her feel better about herself. Waverly's mother is ashamed of how she lived a life of poverty and, the absence of purpose and success in her life. The worst parts about this are her lack of remorse and the despicable abuse of power within her own household. Waverly's mother unveils this aspect of her character throughout Waverly' journey to become a chess master.
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