American Culture In The Joy Luck Club By Amy Tan

Every good story starts with a story, a fable, a myth, or a memory. Right off the bat, The Joy Luck Club begins with a tale about a woman and a swan. In the story the woman travels from China and gives a swan feather to her daughter and says, “with this feather I give you all my good intentions” (Tan). The Joy Luck Club is a story which revolves around four Chinese women who immigrate from China to America and their Chinese-American daughters. The film follows each of their lives reflecting on how their past has affected, has shaped, and will affect their futures. In Amy Tan’s, The Joy Luck Club, the recurring use of memory as tool to show the differences between american and chinese cultures, to be used as an aid in helping the daughters

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.

As a result of June’s attempted efforts of learning about her past, this leaves her feeling disconnected with her mom and her ways. June’s lack of cultural background begins when her mother is still alive. For instance, when Suyuan says,¨You don’t even know little of me! How can you be me?¨ (Tan 27). In other words, there is an instance where June’s friend says both her and her mother have similar features: the way their hands move and the way they laugh. When June conveys this to her mother, Suyuan is upset because she thinks otherwise- you can’t be similar to someone if you don’t even know them. Put another way, this remark is what hinders June’s confidence- she did feel she knows her mother. If June did miscalculate on how well she knew

If one does not look Caucasian and are believed to be seen as different or an alien, then it is more difficult to claim that one is truly an American native. Chang-Rae Lee points out that if one does not look like a typical white American, people use different criteria to judge whether or not one is truly an American Native. That criterion is nativity of language. Since America was made upon immigration, many people in this country consists of different cultural backgrounds and races. The collective language of America buttresses the common ground among its native people. Therefore nativity of language is a set criterion of determining a person’s “native-ness” of a certain place. Native Speaker gives the reader a perspective on the extent of what immigrants go through in order to be accepted or claimed as a native of America through language and suppressing cultural identity. Chang-Rae Lee demonstrates what Asian Americans experience in order to be deemed as a native of America and to fit and have a place in American society. Chang-Rae Lee uses the themes of language and identity throughout the novel as he impressively exemplifies the experiences that Asian Americans undergo as an immigrant in the land of the free.

In the reading, “The Immigrant Enclave: Theory and Empirical Examples,” Alejandro Portes and Robert D. Manning primarily discusses the process that immigrants go through as they go about adapting and integrating into their new society. As the reading states, often when immigrants migrate to new societies, it is either for economic reasons as a means of achieving a better life for themselves or that of seeking political asylum as political refugees. A real world example of an immigrant enclave today is that of the thousands of Syrian refugees who emigrated to the United States and other countries in an effort to flee the Syrian civil war. During the midst of the Syrian crisis, many Syrian refugees sought

Immigration is a very problematic and debatable topic in many ways. Its isn’t easy being an immigrant no matter what country you come from or where you settle. The novel shares stories of Chinese immigrants and the article shares how it is as a Hispanic immigrant. Although being very differing culture, they are still share many similarities.

For the past few decades, waves of immigrant families come to the United States in search of a new home. People from all over the world who have escaped their native country wanting to have jobs in order to support their family and live the “American Dream”. The U.S. Demographic History states, “In any event, 1965 initiated a second ‘Great Wave’ of mass immigration, which continues today. During the 1990s, legal immigration averaged 900,000 annually, increasing to about one million per year during the next decade.” Many of these immigrants of whom have came from the eastern hemisphere have believed that they will live a better life under the liberty, freedom and the pursuit of happiness that the United States can give them. While America has many things to offer for these new incoming families, this country also has cultural conflicts that clash between their natural traditions and modernity. In the novels, The Joy Luck Club, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, and The Kitchen God’s Wife, Amy Tan creates the broken relationships of immigrant mothers and their “Americanized” daughters who struggle in social barriers they both face as they live in the new setting. Amy Tan analyzes mother-daughter relationships between character’s lovers and friends and how they develop over a course of unexpected events.

Relationships define a connection between two beings, whether it be through blood, friendship, or romance. In most cases, the first group that people experience is with their families. The kinship people are born into comes with ups and downs, which may cause a rift between both parties. Thus, maintaining a seamless connection may become a struggle between two dissimilar individuals, “Like many relationships, we have our struggles, our misunderstandings, and our miscommunications. We are very different people, but also very similar at the same 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, “...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 novel demonstrate how crucial communication is to her, specifically between a mother and daughter.

A text to text connection between the book and the article is tales of opportunity and a better life for their children. For example, in the article “Chinese Illegals Pay Up to $30,000 to Enter U.S. Through Mexico”, Border Patrol Agent Joe Gutierrez stated,” They’re (the human traffickers aka “coyotes”) fooling them (the illegal immigrants) telling them there is opportunity over here for their kids.” In Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club”, the woman says, “On her journey she cooed to the swan: "In America I will have a daughter just like me. But over there nobody will say her worth is measured by the loudness of her husband’s belch. Over there nobody will look down on her, because I will make her speak only perfect American English."(I. Prologue.2). The immigrants were looking for better lives for their children. America is known as the land of opportunities, so they follow that belief. The immigrants search out better circumstances for their children to live in, that is one of the reasons why they come over to the United States.

The article speaks about the struggles and hardships that new immigrants must face. The barrier of language and lack of American customs really prevent immigrants from truly fitting in. Wilson Kubwayo, the author of the article, also states immigrant children, “turn into American quicker than the process of actually becoming one. This compares with Lindo Jong noticing her daughter on the inside is all American made. She states, “She followed my Chinese ways only until she learned how to walk out the door by herself and go to school.” This shows that Waverly Jong inevitably lost touch of her Chinese roots. Kubwayo also mentions, "It is flabbergasting at how a newmmie might go from being a High School principal to working in factories. A newmmie is Kubwayo’s term of an immigrant who came to the United States after the year 2000. The Joy Luck Club also portrays the problem that the mothers faced in finding new jobs and ways to support their family. Suyuan Woo found a job in cleaning houses and Lindo Jong and An-Mei worked in a fortune cookie factory. Ying-Ying says, “Saint took me to America, where I lived in houses smaller than the one in the country. I wore large American clothes. I did servant’s tasks.” Another

Conflict began in Syria, in 2011, when peaceful protesters organized, hoping to ensue change in the government. The government responded with devastating bombings at the sites of the protests. Linda J. was born and raised in Syria where she married and had 5 children. After her 7-day old son was murdered at a hospital, bombed by the government, Linda J. and her family decided to leave Syria. After a year of living in Lebanon, sustaining 7 people off an income of $15 a day, Linda J. and her husband received news that they would be considered for “resettlement” in America (Linda J.). After more than a year of intense questioning, and countless background searches, Linda J. and her family were cleared to move to the U.S. She recalls, “My story is my story, so I knew that the details would match their information. But I was not prepared for the level of scrutiny or length of the process” (Linda J.). They traveled to the U.S. with only $30 for their journey. After living in the U.S. for a year, Linda’s husband has a job, and her children are attending school. Linda J. stated, “My biggest dream is for my daughters to have a good education and good careers, and for us to be part of this society: to learn the language, to do something productive, to integrate” (Linda J.). Linda J. concluded her recollection with this statement, “I understand that there is a necessary process for Syrian families to come here, but please don’t close the door” (Linda J.). Because the majority of

Plato said in The Republic, “The soul takes nothing with her to the next world but her education and her culture.” (Quoted from Plato’s The Republic) Dependence in culture is inevitable for humans – take this away and we are lost (Livesey and Lawson, 2008). Livesey and Lawson (2008) generally defined culture as “a way of life”. According to Merriam Webster Dictionary culture is “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group” (Merriam Webster Dictionary).

In The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, the mothers and daughters are able to overcome the common generational barriers created by immigration by communicating through stories. This book preaches an important message of unity and acceptance, much like this image. Before the girls learn about the courage and hardships of their mothers, one of the daughters speaks of the language barrier, “my mother and I spoke two different languages, which we did. I talked to her in English, she answered back in Chinese.” (1).

In addition, illegal immigrants are increasing as a result of war in other countries. According to CNN News in Syria, an anti-regime uprising that started in March 2011 has spiraled into civil war. More than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict. More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other. People are fighting with neighbors all over the world. Every moment the fear of death is a present reality. No one can lead a normal life. They do not have enough food to survive. Thousands of children have seen parents killed or die at an early age themselves. These conflicts affect many cultures. Some people have decided to escape at any cost. Faez, a Syrian refugee, decided to flee Syria after he was detained and accused of being a terrorist. An

    The dominant theme of The Joy Luck Club is the clash between Chinese, American cultures, and how it affects the relationship between mothers and daughters. All of the mothers in the book were born and raised in China. All of their daughters were born and raised in the United States. Because of the differences in family traditions and values between the way the mothers had been raised in China and the way their daughters were growing up in America, there was bound to be a clash between the two generations. Perhaps the most dramatic example of how East-West conflicting traditions and values affected a mother-daughter relationship was that of Suyuan Woo and