Melinda In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

Something had happened during that summer party that made her want to end her silence and speak up. During the summer, Melinda got raped by a senior boy called Andy Evans. Whom she

Again, throughout the whole book, Melinda has this odd feeling, she thinks that nobody likes her and is always down on herself. An example from the book that shows this behavior is at the beginning of the book, her first day of high school. "I have entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don't have anyone to sit with. I am outcast." (Anderson 4) As soon as she enters high school she doubts herself. It's almost as that she believes that since she has entered with the wrong clothes, the wrong hair, and nobody to sit with, that she will never fit in. This shows a sign of hopelessness, she is doubting herself to much. Another example of when Melinda shows sadness and hopelessness is when she hears about Rachelles Halloween party she is throwing. She says, "I knew I wouldn't get an invitation. I would be lucky to get an invitation to my own funeral." (Anderson 41) This shows Melinda again, being

Melinda isn't speaking to anyone, and no one will talk to her, except the new girl, Heather, who moved from the state of Ohio. Realistically, Heather being the new girl just wants to make friends. Heather doesn't know what is really going on with Melinda because she just moved to town. Heather has no idea what happened the night when Melinda called the police, which busted a summer party. In fact, no one knows, except for Melinda, what happened to her at the party? She is convinced that because she is a victim, no one understands her. The whole world, including her world, is out to get her and so it is best for her to remain silent.

The story started in an ambiguous atmosphere ,as readers don’t know what happened to Melinda she refused to speak she only wants to live in her isolation. some people in their depression tries to speak, and others chooses to keep themselves silent and get stressed when they are given a heavy workload, like “why me ?” ,as they are too weak or shame to face the world around them ,and this exactly what happened to Melinda in this novel .People experiencing passive anger may not even realize they are angry, because passive angry maybe repressed, it can be hard to recognize. In this long term, these suppressed angry feelings can easily be a main reasson for psychological suffering. As readers can only notice that she carried a folded story that will be displayed through flashback

Melinda got tired of living the pain. “Jeans that fit, that’s a good start. I have to stay away from the closet. I will make myself normal. Forget the rest of it,” (chapter 59, page 125). Melinda is tired of feeling stressed. She is growing as a person. She doesn’t want to be stuck in that situation anymore. She is now taking control because having flashbacks and trying to forget is not helping.

At the start of the novel Melinda is starting her freshman year depressed, isolated and lonely. During the summer Melinda goes to a party with her friend Rachel and things don't end to well, Andy Evans a senior rapes Melinda while she was drunk. Melinda than calls the cops because of how frightened she is from the situation. People dislike Melinda because of what she did. For example,the first day of school Melinda doesn't know what to do since she has

During this time in the novel, Melinda feels like she can’t speak for herself and can’t tell people what really happened and why she had called the cops at the party. She feels that if she tells anyone that they would say that she’s just trying to get attention. Those examples were just a few times out of the many that they changed the

What does identity mean to you? One of the main characters, Ying-ying St.Clair in Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club, was born in a very wealthy family, but influenced by the world around her, she lost her own “self”. As a result, she remained quiet and listens to all of the omens in life but never pays attention to her own feelings. Even her own daughter, Lena was also influenced by Ying-ying’s overprotection and criticism. In the novel, Ying-ying had evolved from a naive and wild child to a woman who had lost her spirit and bush way her own feelings.

In the story she states, “I’ve been having trouble sleeping at home. I wake up because the covers or on the floor or because I’m standing at the kitchen door trying to get out. It feels safer in my little hideaway” (Anderson, 130). In this quote Melinda bluntly says that she feels safer in her closet than she does at her home. She also states that she keeps waking up at home and is having trouble sleeping. These were leading factors following what happened to Melinda. In the beginning of the novel she makes her closet her “home.” Melinda says, “ Mostly I just watch the scary movies inside my eyelids” (Anderson, 50). This shows that she is sleeping but she is having some nightmares. As the book progresses she creates a safe environment for her to find peace

Melinda showed a lot of courage in this book. She was put in a lot of new situations, that required her to make some hard decisions. Such as when she is told that she needs to read her suffragette report in front of the class. She could've just easily read her paper in front of the class but instead she wrote her essay on the board. Then Melinda says, “The suffragettes fought for the right to speak.

One of the bigger turning points in her life happened when she is raped at a high school senior party. What made it traumatizing was that they are young girls and Melinda didn't realize

Andy found her closet and he went to visit her on one of the last days of school. “No. a sound explodes from me. NNNOOO!!!”(194). Andy tried once more to rape her. Melinda wouldn’t let him overwhelm her. Melinda said no, as she started to speak again to more people she said no to the one person she hated most. If melinda had not made noise and broken the glass he might have done it again. She finally got the courage to fight and stand up to Andy. Melinda may have let him rape her again but talking to Rachel increased melindas courage to stand up to Andy and others in the

Just before school ended, she started communicating with her lab partner and friend, David Petrakis. She also met Ivy, a kind girl in her art class. As Melinda finally met people that she felt comfortable and happy around, she gained confidence. Her teachers and parents were pleased to discover that this also improved Melinda’s attendance and grades. Melinda finally opened her mind enough to think through the events of the party. She had blamed herself the whole time, just like the rest of the school. As Andy pointed out, Melinda never explicitly told him, “ no” during her rape. She thought it was wimpy that she called the cops. She let her friends and peers convince her that she was an idiot and a wimp. Melinda eventually allowed herself to figure out that she was a victim. She never gave permission to Andy, and she was right to call the police because she was in pain and in danger. Once Melinda opened up and let herself and others in, she was able to defend herself. Melinda proved her confidence and power when she told Andy, “No!” when he tried to attack her in her closet. With Melinda’s new found confidence, she was able to drastically improve her life and save herself from her

A second, factor that has shaped Melinda is her being depressed. At lunch in the chapter 2nd marking Heather was making the point that Melinda

When Christmas came, and her parents got her that art set for Christmas, that was the first time she felt like they were there for her. They finally noticed something about her; she felt she could tell them everything. This is when Melinda starts opening her doors and grows a backbone. She tells off Heather and starts putting in an effort for her