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The Eight Heroes in The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Decent Essays

In the novel The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, four Chinese mother-daughter pairs, each with her own unique story, have deep connections with each other. At the beginning of the novel they each seem like ordinary women, but as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that these women are more than just mothers, daughters, or wives; they can also be considered heroes according to Joseph Campbell. Joseph Campbell says a hero is someone who undergoes a departure, where the person is confronted with a problem that they must overcome; a fulfillment, where the person finally overcomes the problem; and a return, where the person passes on what they gain and learn from the experiences in the form of a "life-giving elixir"(Campbell). This “life-giving …show more content…

Not only is she forced into an arranged marriage, but she has no love for the boy that she is about to marry. From the day that she is arranged into a marriage and thereafter, she must deal with the fact that she will belong to someone else and that she is going to be the property of her husband. Her departure begins when her own family treats her “as if [she] belonged to someone else” (51). This shows the beginning of her departure because it is the start of the trials that she must overcome and deal with to continue with her journey. To make matters worse, Lindo’s family has to leave her because of a flood that wiped out all of her family’s land. Another trial that she faces is to get out her love-less marriage. She must leave safely while also keeping the honor and dignity of her family name intact. In order to overcome these trials, Lindo must transition to the fulfillment stage. While in the fulfillment stage, a person must pass and overcome the trials and problems that they are faced with in order to move on in there hero journey. Lindo faces the challenge of getting out of her marriage, but comes up with a clever way of getting out of it without dishonoring her family name. Lindo decides to use her gift of “invisible strength” to her advantage. She decides to manipulate her mother-in-law’s superstitions and tell her about the dream she had with Tyan-yu’s grandfather saying that if she does not get out of the marriage that Tyan-yu will die.

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