“I asked myself, What is true about a person? Would I change in the same way the river changes color but still be the same person?” (1.3.53) Theme identity plays an important role in the novel as it focuses on the lives of Chinese-American daughters and their Chinese-born mothers. The novel is broken up into certain scenes told in different perspectives, as well, it examines the ups and downs of life in both the mothers and daughters. Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club has the daughters develop their understanding of their Chinese heritage, through their mother’s love, by learning about the past, and their cultural heritage;
First of all, “a mother's love is the protection, nourishment, affection and care that a mother bestows on her child. A mother is said to be God's servant. She can sacrifice a lot of things in life, so that her child gets the best out of it all.” (Ask) In the Joy Luck Club, despite the fact that Lindo’s mother sent her daughter to live with the Huangs at a very young age and treated her as if she belonged to somebody else. She still loved her daughter very much. Just before Lindo leaves, her mother gives her a necklace made out of red jade and realizes that she acted very stern. Lindo knew that her mother was upset. This is evident in her statement, “‘Obey your family. Do not disgrace us’, she said. ‘Act happy when you arrive. Really, you’re very lucky.’” (1.3.48) This quote suggests that Lindo’s mother believes that Lindo will have a better life with a new family and that it is best for her. She tells Lindo not to let her real family down. Furthermore, In Jing-Mei’s story “Best Quality,” she discusses her mother’s jade pendant. Her mother, Suyuan, called it her “life’s importance.” The significant meaning behind this p...
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... eventually get destroyed because of their cultural differences. Their miscommunication also has a part in this, as their communications are limited and they both struggle with the expectations that they have for each other. Therefore, as the daughters learn more about their cultural heritage, their comprehension of their Chinese heritage improves.
In conclusion, The Joy Luck Club tells a powerful and strong story that shows the importance of how the daughters develop their understanding to their Chinese heritage amongst their mother’s love, learning about their past, and their cultural heritage. As the daughters grow up to be adults, they start to realize how their mothers show their love to them, and as they become more appreciative of their mother, their attitude changes over the course of time to create an appreciation and respect that had not been there before.
Jing-mei Woo has to become a member of the Joy Luck Club in place of her mother, Suyuan Woo, who passed away. Before Suyuan's passing Jing-mei does not know much about her mother, as the story continues to develop Jing-mei realizes how much she did not know about her mother and learns more and more new things about her on her journey of finding her sisters. “Your father is not my first husband. You are not those babies” (26), this quote is from Suyuan Woo and shows Jing- mei that her mother has a lot of secrets that she does not know about. “Over the years, she told me the same story, except for the ending, which grew darker, casting long shadows into her life, and eventually into mine” (21). This quote shows how Jing-mei did not know much
Amy Tan 's novel, The Joy Luck Club, explores the relationships and experiences of four Chinese mothers with that of their four Chinese-American daughters. The differences in the upbringing of those women born around the 1920’s in China, and their daughters born in California in the 80’s, is undeniable. The relationships between the two are difficult due to lack of understanding and the considerable amount of barriers that exist between them.
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.
In The Joy Luck Club, the novel traces the fate of the four mothers-Suyuan Woo, An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-ying St. Clair-and their four daughters-June Woo, Rose Hsu Jordan, Waverly Jong, and Lena St. Clair. Through the experiences that these characters go through, they become women. The mothers all fled China in the 1940's and they all retain much of their heritage. Their heritage focuses on what is means to be a female, but more importantly what it means to be an Asian female.
Traditions, heritage and culture are three of the most important aspects of Chinese culture. Passed down from mother to daughter, these traditions are expected to carry on for years to come. In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, daughters Waverly, Lena, Rose and June thoughts about their culture are congested by Americanization while on their quests towards self-actualization. Each daughter struggles to find balance between Chinese heritage and American values through marriage and professional careers.
America was not everything the mothers had expected for their daughters. The mothers always wanted to give their daughters the feather to tell of their hardships, but they never could. They wanted to wait until the day that they could speak perfect American English. However, they never learned to speak their language, which prevented them from communicating with their daughters. All the mothers in The Joy Luck Club had so much hope for their daughters in America, but instead their lives ended up mirroring their mother’s life in China. All the relationships had many hardships because of miscommunication from their different cultures. As they grew older the children realized that their ...
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.
Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club describes the lives of first and second generation Chinese families, particularly mothers and daughters. Surprisingly The Joy Luck Club and, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts are very similar. They both talk of mothers and daughters in these books and try to find themselves culturally. Among the barriers that must be overcome are those of language, beliefs and customs.
The complexitities of any mother-daughter relationship go much deeper then just their physical features that resemble one another. In Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club, the stories of eight Chinese women are told. Together this group of women forms four sets of mother and daughter pairs. The trials and triumphs, similarities and differences, of each relationship with their daughter are described, exposing the inner makings of four perfectly matched pairs. Three generations of the Hsu family illustrate how both characteristics and values get passed on through generations, even with the obstacles of different cultures and language.
Amy Tan is a Chinese-American author. She had become Americanized, according to her mother, who still held traditional Chinese values. They fought sometimes, just as the women and daughters of The Joy Luck Club, over who was right and who was wrong regarding many problems they encountered. Tan most likely modeled The Joy Luck Club after her relationship with her mother. She even dedicated the novel “To my mother and the memory of her mother. You asked me once what I wo...
When analyzing the Joy Luck club it is important to consider the life of the author. It is apparent after studying both The Joy Luck Club and Amy Tan that there are some incredible similarities among the two, particularly the story of mother Suyuan-Woo and her daughter Jing-Mei Woo. Suyuan is a main character and plays an extremely important role in the novel even though she passed away. She created the Joy Luck club years ago and is the main reason why this tight kit family exists today. Suyuan decided to create the Joy Luck club during a ve...
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.
...ith Jing Mei and her mother, it is compounded by the fact that there are dual nationalities involved as well. Not only did the mother’s good intentions bring about failure and disappointment from Jing Mei, but rooted in her mother’s culture was the belief that children are to be obedient and give respect to their elders. "Only two kinds of daughters.....those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!" (Tan1) is the comment made by her mother when Jing Mei refuses to continue with piano lessons. In the end, this story shows that not only is the mother-daughter relationship intricately complex but is made even more so with cultural and generational differences added to the mix.
The Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mother and The Joy Luck Club both demonstrate the barriers that exist between the mothers and the daughters of the Chinese culture. These barriers are often caused by the inability to communicate with each other. In both books, the daughters believed that they could never make their mothers proud. In The Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mother, the mother, Amy Chua, was never satisfied with Lulu’s or Sophia’s roles with their instruments. These two daughters believed that their mother was out to get them when in fact Chua had high hopes and pure intentions for them to become successes and prodigies. Chua never believed that there was a task that her daughters couldn’t conquer. She made Lulu practice this very intense piano piece and for a long time Lulu was stumbling over it. It came to a point where the father, Jed, pleaded for Chua to let Lulu take a break. This went against Chua’s beliefs and as a result, Lulu was not allowed to give up. Later that night, Lulu had mastered the piano piece and was thankful that she was pushed as hard as she was by her mother. Lulu’s success over this piece did ...
In the Joy Luck Club, the author Amy Tan, focuses on mother-daughter relationships. She examines the lives of four women who emigrated from China, and the lives of four of their American-born daughters. The mothers: Suyuan Woo, An-Mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-Ying St. Clair had all experienced some life-changing horror before coming to America, and this has forever tainted their perspective on how they want their children raised. The four daughters: Waverly, Lena, Rose, and Jing-Mei are all Americans. Even though they absorb some of the traditions of Chinese culture they are raised in America and American ideals and values. This inability to communicate and the clash between cultures create rifts between mothers and daughters.