Amy Tan s The Joy Luck Club Essay - 805 Words

Rebecca Nemmers American Minority Writers Professor Czer September 12, 2016 Mother Knows Best Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club is a well-known novel that discusses the difficulties that Chinese American immigrants face especially in the second generation. This novel specifically focuses in on the stories of the mothers and their daughters, their sufferings and triumphs. Due to both the generational and cultural differences between the mothers and daughters are extreme and these differences cause their relationship to be strained. I think that one of the critical themes from the book comes from Jing-mei’s chapter. â€Å"Only two kinds of daughters. . . those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!†(Tan 1989 142) Ying-ying and Lena St. Clair - both the relationship and the stories of these two women are rather confusing. It seems that Ying-ying and Lena are both slightly more superstitious than the rest of the women. Their stories typically center around visions or signs. Lena seems to be the daughter whose relationship is most st rained. Lena tends to believe that everything happens for a reason but refuses to listen to her mother when she suggests that Lena’s choices will lead to bad things. The result of her defiance is her unhappiness in her marriage to Harold. Her mother can see that her life is not balanced, but Lena does not have the courage to change the way she lives. Waverly Jong quickly began to resent her mother once she realized her potential as a childShow MoreRelatedAmy Tan s The Joy Luck Club1097 Words   |  5 PagesCulture defines humanity. Culture makes humans different than any other living organism ever known. Culture is what makes humans unique, and yet culture is easily the most misunderstood characteristic of individuals. In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan develops the theme of incomplete cultural understanding leads to an inability to communicate one’s true intentions through juxtaposition and conflict between mothers and daughters and their cultures. The conflicting Chinese culture of the mothers’Read MoreAmy Tan s The Joy Luck Club890 Words   |  4 PagesLena and Ying-Ying from Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club both face injustice in their patriarchal relationships, just as Mariam and Laila from A Thousand Splendid Suns, however on very different terms. Lena, like Amir and Laila, struggles with confrontation and complete deference of others. However, under the influence of her mother, Lena realizes the problematic recurrences in relationship with her husband. Ying-Ying, aware of her daughters submissiveness, must lead Lena to intervention to confront herselfRead MoreAmy Tan s The Joy Luck Club1385 Words   |  6 Pages Amy Tan s The Joy Luck Club Mona A. M. Ahmed Zagazig University, Egypt The purpose of this paper is to investigate pluralism, acculturation and assimilation in Amy Tan s novel The Joy Luck Club (1989), a finalist for the National Award, and a recipient of the 1990 Bay Area Book Reviewers award for fiction. Amy Tan (1952- ) is a Chinese American novelist; she is the daughter of John Tan, a Chinese electricalRead MoreAmy Tan s The Joy Luck Club1023 Words   |  5 Pagesand other scholars’ articles, a diasporic and often considered as postcolonial discourses- Amy Tan’s debut novel The Joy Luck Club comes to my mind. Amy Tan, as one of the renowned contemporary Chinese American writers, and also as one of the daughters of the immigrants herself, writes several novels revealing situations and reflecting problems faced by the Chinese diaspora in America. Although The Joy Luck Club has been published for more than two decades, the stories inside are still going on in ChineseRead MoreAmy Tan s The Joy Luck Club Essay1567 Words   |  7 PagesAmy Tan’s â€Å"The Joy Luck Club† is a novel written in various short stories between four immigrant Chinese mothers and their four Chinese-American born daughters. The mother’s represent their heritage, tradition, culture, and native tongue. Their daughters; however embody America and its culture, along with language. Each mother and daughter share the emotional feeling of cultural separation between themselves and their relationship with each other. With their cross-cultural relationship, the daughtersRead MoreAmy Tan s The Joy Luck Club1028 Words   |  5 PagesIn Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, Waverly Jong is a dynamic character who shows her arrogance, selfishness and insecurities as the story progresses. On the first letter of Waverly’s name, W, sits a Mink, which symbolizes her desire for her mother’s approval. Throughout the novel, Waverly avoids Lindo’s criticism and fears her mother will not agree with her choices. T his is evident in â€Å"Four Directions† when Waverly shows her mother the mink coat Rich bought her and Lindo responds, â€Å"This is no good†¦Read MoreAnalysis Of Amy Tan s The Joy Luck Club1637 Words   |  7 Pagessame time† (Goreski). Amy Tan, an author of numerous novels, understands the battle of relationships, especially between culturally diverse mothers and daughters. In one of Tan’s novels, The Joy Luck Club, she writes to get the point across of how difficult it is for contrasting cultures to communicate with one another, â€Å"...out of an intense concern with the individual artistic choices she was making at every level and at every moment† (Evans 3). The passionate message Tan stresses in the novelRead MoreAmy Tan s The Joy Luck Club1210 Words   |  5 PagesThe Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan tells the story of four Chinese mothers and their American daughters. Throughout the book, Tan talks about the mothers and the life they had in chin a, the relationship between their mothers, and why they moved to America. She also writes about the daughters who were born and raised in America and their relationship with their mothers. In addition, she talks about the cultural differences between the Chinese mothers and the Chinese-American daughters. Joy Luck Club is oneRead MoreAmy Tan s The Joy Luck Club986 Words   |  4 Pageshope. How to laugh forever†, Amy Tan wrote in The Joy Luck Club. This powerful quote not only exhibits the mindset that Amy has formed over the years, but also how various lessons has shaped her inner-being. Overcoming a past were all the odds were against her, even her mother, leaves Tan’s story worth being heard. Amy’s mixed heritage made adapting to the free life of America from an authoritarian Chinese parenting style difficult. The pivotal moment that altered Amy Tan’s life the most was breakingRead MoreAnalysis Of Amy Tan s The Joy Luck Club Essay1664 Words   |   7 PagesLauren Lee 11 September 2016 English 203H 1st Period 3 paragraphs â€Å"The Joy Luck Club† Journey of the Swan In Amy Tan’s story â€Å"The Joy Luck Club,† Jing-mei recalls the struggles she is burdened by in not understanding the extensive sacrifices her mother made and the guilt she carries of never living to be her mother’s swan. For the majority of her life, June has battled with the tedious thoughts of why her mother never seemed content with her. â€Å"Auntie Lin and my mother were both best friends and