Symbolism In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club is the first novel by Amy Tan, published in 1989. The Joy Luck Club is about a group of Chinese women that share family stories while they play Mahjong. When the founder of the club, Suyuan Woo, died, her daughter June replaced her place in the meetings. In her first meeting, she finds out that her lost twin sisters were alive in China. Before the death of Suyuan, the other members of the club located the address of June’s half-sisters. After that, they send June to tell her half-sisters about her mother’s life. In our lives there are events, and situations that mark our existence and somehow determine our life. In this novel, it shows how four mothers and their daughters were impacted by their tradition and beliefs. In the traditional Asian family, parents define the law and the children are expected to follow their requests and demands; respect for one’s parents and elders is critically important. Traditions are very important because they allow us to remember the beliefs that marked a whole culture.

In the essay “fish Cheeks”, the essayist Amy Tan conveys that the main character is worried and embarrassed. “What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas? What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners?...” (Tan). After Amy is informed that the Minister's family is coming over for Christmas dinner, she silently begins to debate how the night will go with a multitude of what if questions. She is worried how Robert, and his family will react to some of her family's customs. “... I knew that she understood how much I suffered during the evening’s dinner” (Tan). Amy says she suffered during Christmas dinner because she was embarrassed on how her family

   Each person reaches a point in their life when they begin to search for their own, unique identity. In her novel, Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan follows Jing Mei on her search for her Chinese identity – an identity long neglected.

Many times plot development is thought of as a key detail in keeping a story organized, while others would say that plot structure tends to add too much order to a piece of work and hinder the reader from exploring true creativity. A great example of these two contrasting ideas is illustrated in Amy Tan’s well-known novel “The Joy Luck Club”. Although some could argue that there is no definite plot structure portrayed at all within the book, this is not true. A slight plot lies within each individual short story. While there might not be an overall rising and falling action connected throughout the novel, an exposition, climax, and resolution are clearly illustrated in each story.

There is a common theme of hope throughout the stories of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Even in the face of immeasurable danger and strife, the mothers and daughters in the book find themselves faithful in the future by looking to the past, which is only helped by the format of Tan’s writing. This is shown specifically in the stories of Suyuan and Jing-Mei Woo, Lena and Ying-Ying St. Clair, and Lindo and Waverly Jong. The vignette structure of The Joy Luck Club allows the stories to build on one another in a way that effortlessly displays both the happy and dark times in each mother’s life, which lets their experiences act as sources of background and guidance to their daughters in times when they need it most.

“Four Directions” is the story of Waverly Jong, the young prodigy chess player who lashes out at her mother because of her constant showing off of Waverly. After returning to chess, Waverly realizes that her skill and determination is gone, along with the support and love from her mother. She beings to understand that her winning was solely dependant on her mother’s boastful remarks about her daughter, the love the Lindo was so openly expressing.

 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

“The Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan is about Waverly Jong mother taught her the art of invisible strength when she was six years old, saying that it is a strategy for winning arguments and respect. At Christmas Waverly and her brothers received gifts from donations of members from another church. Waverly convinced her brothers, Winston and Vincent, to let her play chess by offering two of her life savers to stand in for the missing pieces. Waverly began playing with Lau Po, an old man who played chess in the park. He taught her many new strategies. Waverly began to attract attention because of her young age, and she became a celebrity within the Chinatown community. Waverly's mother would force her to go to the market with her, presenting

In the essay "Fish Cheeks" it says, "For Christmas I prayed for this blond-haired boy, Robert, and a slim new American nose." This statement proposes that Amy thinks if she looks American to the outside world she will become American. Amy Tan is very embarrassed by her family who does not try to change to fit in, but shows their culture proudly. "At the end of the meal my father leaned back and belched loudly, thanking my mother for her fine cooking. "It's a polite Chinese custom to show you are satisfied" explained my father" (Tan 6). She then goes on to wonder what Robert would think of her family's "shabby Chinese Christmas" (Tan 2) because that night for dinner, they would be having her mother's strange Chinese menu instead of the traditional roasted turkey and sweet potatoes. In conclusion Amy Tan is scared that her family and the menu will reveal that she is indeed Chinese so she won't be able to hide it from her crush any

“Here is how I came to love my mother.  How I saw her my own true nature.  What was beneath my skin.  Inside my bones.” (Tan 40)

In the novel The Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan, there are several stories that intertwine into one novel. Each of the stories takes place China where the roles and the actions of woman are vastly different compared to American tradition. In the different stories, they all are about different mothers and daughters. Throughout the book, the reader can see the development in each relationship between mother and daughter with their conflicting backgrounds from China to America.

I think to myself what if I had a fight with my mother? What if, the fight, I was in trouble? What would I do? After the chapter “ Rules of the Game ”, I think that I have a good idea on what Waverly will do next.

History, Culture and Identity of Mothers and Daughters in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club

Throughout The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan inserts various conflicts betweens mothers and daughters. Most of these relationships, already very fragile, become distanced through heritage, history and expectations. These differences cause reoccurring clashes between two specific mother-daughter bonds. The first relationship exists between Waverly Jong and her mother, Lindo. Lindo tries to instill Chinese qualities in her daughter while Waverly refuses to recognize her heritage and concentrates on American culture. The second bond is that of Jing-Mei Woo and her mother, Suyuan. In the beginning of the book Jing-Mei speaks of confusion in her recently deceased mother's actions. The language and cultural barrier presented between Jing-Mei and Suyuan

Conflicts play a crucial role in novels. Without conflict, novels would be uninteresting and very dull. Conflicts are seen in many different forms, as internal conflicts, when a character must deal with private problems, and external conflicts, when a character must deal with problems originating from an external source, like another person or society in general. Some common conflicts seen in other novels are person versus society, as in The Scarlet Letter when Hester is forced to face her mistake of adultery due to the obsession of the unforgiving town. An example of an internal conflict is present within Animal Dreams, when Cody must decide where she belongs and