The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Amy Tan is the author of The Joy Luck Club, a famous novel about the relationship between two generations, mother and daughter. Tan is an American-Chinese woman, whose parents are both Chinese immigrants. In order to meet the high expectation of her mother, Tan had to go through many hardships. Around five years old, she already knew the taste of pressure when her mother was displeased at her just because her picture was not hanged in the Principal’s Office. Growing up in America, Tan also realizes the differences between two cultures. Tan would get scolded at when she received a B, while other children were okay when they got a C. Tan realizes it would be hard to appease her mother or even at all. Even so, Tan still tried hard to meet her mother’s expectation. However, Tan completely changed from an obedient daughter to a rebellious one because of one incident - the death of her father and brother. Because of this, Tan thought that there would be no use of being good; therefore, she started to rebel against her mother. “Anything that my mother hated, that was better” Tan said in an interview. She began to put on make-up, wear short skirts, smoke, drink, and date a 26 year old man, who her mother absolutely disapproved of. Her eccentric and rebellious behavior got to the point when she was almost placed in jail. Eventually, as she grew up, Tan began to forgive herself for her stupid mistakes and to also forgive her mother. Tan came to the realization that all her mother did was out of love; she just wanted Tan to have a bright future.

Amy Tan then began to write her first novel, The Joy Luck Club. This novel is both a major hit in her literary career and her life. One of the factors that led her to hold her pen up and write this ...

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