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Amy Tan Character Analysis Essay

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Amy Tan: Characterization and Assimilation of Chinese-American Women Amy Tan was born in Oakland, California in 1952 to Chinese immigrants, John and Daisy Tan. (Amy Tan). Her Chinese heritage and her importance of family heavily influenced her writing as most of her stories are written about the relationships between mother and daughter while also describing different ways Chinese women of all generations (young, middle aged, and elderly) assimilate themselves in American society. In “The Joy Luck Club” by Tan, one of the younger characters, Waverly Jong, is raised by a strict Chinese-American mother who constantly expects so much from her. When her brothers receive a chess set for Christmas, she picks up the game quickly and becomes a child …show more content…

Ruth Liu is a middle-aged woman who is living in America with her boyfriend, his daughters, and her aging mother, LuLing. LuLing is diagnosed with Alzheimer‘s and Ruth has to take care of her. Ruth’s life is very stressful so she begins writing self help books in order to keep her sane. Meanwhile, she is trying to uncover the mystery of what her mother’s life was like growing up. In an interview with CNN, Amy Tan describes the book as “a book about memory, losing memory, finding memories, and about finding one’s voice after having voicelessness in different ways.” (CNN). The way Ruth reaches out in order to discover her mother’s background is just one example of how Amy Tan writes about the importance of the mother-daughter …show more content…

They get together once a week to play mahjong and to discuss the “joy” and “luck” they have experienced during the week. According to Magali Cornier Michael, the Joy Luck Club is “an emblem of the mothers' fierce will to survive physically and psychically in a land that is foreign to them, of their recognition that their individual survival and control over their destinies in America requires communal support, and of their need to retain a sense of hope for the future.” (Michael) This is a great example of assimilation because these women are keeping an element of their Chinese culture alive while also adapting into American society. In conclusion, “The Bonesetter’s Daughter” and “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan are not biographies but are stories that contain certain themes that are significant to her life such as the importance of a valuable relationship between mother and daughter and the assimilation of Chinese immigrants into American

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