The Joy Luck Club Tone Analysis

Throughout Jing-mei’s life, though she does not realize it, the people she interacts with and the trials she goes through all help her discover who she is, and help her find her own path in life. Not only does she learn who she is, but she also learns more about her mother; which helps her understand why her mother says and acts the way that she does. This knowledge of her mother helps Jing-mei realize that she needs to compromise with her mother sometimes, and she becomes more willing to embrace her

Although the piano was the main tension between the both of them but in the end it was as a peace offering. Ni Kan and her mother did not have the same aspect in life. Ni Kan wanted to be in control of herself. Live her own life and be her own person. Ni Kan ended up making her own choices in life while trying to repair her relationship with her mother. Before Ni Kan’s mother passed away she offered to give the piano to back to Ni Kan since it was

She was my mother,” (31).  Jing-Mei says this to her aunts after her mother had died, and she had to take your position in joy luck.  She felt like she never really knew her mother because of their miscommunication.  Suyuan Woo, Jing-Mei’s mother, had many hopes and good intentions for her daughter. While Jing-Mei wanted to be herself and still please her mother, Suyuan wanted her daughter to be a child prodigy. Always wanting the best for her daughter, Suyuan hoped Jing-Mei would one day become an extraordinary pianist.  Although Jing-Mei played the piano, she never put forth much effort into the music because her best was not good enough for her mother.  Nonetheless, she stopped playing the piano.  “I could only be me,” (154).  She could not be something that she was not; she could not live up to her mother’s expectations.  This symbolized one of Jing-Mei’s songs, “Pleading Child.”  Suyuan continues to put all the pressure on Jing-Mei so that she will not become like her mother for all the reasons she had come to America; hopes for a better life.

August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, tells a story of a family haunted by the pain of their past and their struggle to find peace to move forward. The story begins with character Boy Willie coming up from the south visiting his sister Bernice. Boy Willie introduces the idea of selling the family’s heirloom, a piano, to raise enough money to buy the land on which his ancestors were enslaved. However, both Boy Willie and his sister Berniece own half a half of the piano and she refuses to let Boy Willie sell it. Through the use of symbolism, Wilson uses his characters, the piano and the family’s situation to provide his intended audience with the lesson of exorcising our past in order to move forward in our lives. Our past will always be a

The tone of a story, poem or novel is the way the author wants the reader to feel. Most people get the word mood and tone confused with each other, but the mood is the way the reader feels about the story, poem, or novel. In the novel the author’s tone is both suspenseful and sympathetic. For instance, it is suspenseful because Estrella wants to know what the chest filled with steel is for. Also, it is sympathetic because Estrella was being bullied by teachers and she did not realize it was happening until something hurt her feelings.

Many people have come across a time in their life where any action or event from the past comes back to haunt them in their present life. This past event either affects their future actions in a negative or positive way. A play in which a character must contend with an aspect from the past is, The Piano Lesson by August Wilson. In August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, Bernice Charles, struggles with embracing her family’s history of enslavement and oppression. She does this by deciding to keep the family’s heirloom, the piano, but yet denies its presence. She also decides to move up north from the south and away from her family’s history with her Uncle Doaker and daughter Maretha, again proving that she wants nothing to do with her past. Later on in the play, Bernice and her brother Boy Willie encounter Mr.Sutter 's ghost. Bernice decides to go against her idea of never touching the piano and plays it for the first time since the death of her parents. With the support of their ancestors they successfully fight back the ghost and Bernice realizes it 's a mistake to avoid or run away from her past. The actions taken by Bernice at the end of the play reveal that despite their past anyone is capable of embracing and moving on from their past in a way that will help them benefit their future actions positively.

In The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson, Berniece struggles with her personal connection with the piano. Her families past reveal her relationship with the piano. The piano meant a lot of things to a lot of different people over the years. The piano is a complex and multilayers symbol; its meanings are both personal and political. For example, Berniece was affected by the piano positively and negatively. She had a sentimental connection with it and never wanted to get rid of it. But the piano had a lot of history behind it and it also carries a lot of meaning to it. Berniece stopped playing the piano for a while because of all the spirits inside of it and how they started to haunt other people. Berniece saw Boy Willie getting attacked by Sutter’s ghost and that made her realize she needs to let go of the past and play the piano again. But what was ironic is that she tried her best to forget the family history that came with the piano, she can never let go of her families past no matter what she does. This reveals that people should come to good terms with their past and learn to overcome it.

After being laid off, the factory worker, Chen guilin, organized a band on his own, and was struggling to maintain his life in the business of Weddings and Funerals and Store opened. His wife, xiao ju, ran away from home and turned to a wealthy counterfeit drug dealer, who was now returning to home, not only to divorce from Chen guilin, but also to fight for the custody of their only daughter. Chen guilin lamented the fate of his failure and was bent on cultivating her daughter into a pianist. To get his daughter, he raised money to buy the piano, even with his girlfriend Sue Sandy and the steel mill's good buddies to steal the school’s piano at night. When all the methods failed, Chen guilin accidentally found a Russian literature on the piano, so called on the partners began the journey of hand-made piano in the already dilapidated plant.

The feud between Jing-mei and her mother destroyed their relationship for years, causing them to become distant from each other. Jing-mei’s mother pushed her so far that she no longer wanted to become a prodigy. Overwhelmed by anger, Jing-mei sees her reflection and no longer cares about impressing her mother. She emphasizes, “I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m not” (Tan 223). Having the mindset like most teenagers, Jing-mei no longer wants to impress her mother; she wants to be her own self person. During Jing-mei’s adult years her mother gives back the piano for her 30th birthday. As she starts playing, she perceives that she has natural talent when she “Played a few bars, surprised at how easily the notes came back to me” (Tan 233). It was not until Jing-mei began playing the piano after all those years, that she realizes her mother was right about the talent she had all

This relationship between mother, daughter, and piano is essential to the piano’s role in continually being a part of the family. Berneice sees this piano as a family member, and not just an heirloom to be relished. The fact that Berneice chooses not to disclose the history of

Boy Willie, however, wants to release the past and sell the family piano so he can have a new start in life and forget the painful past. "The Piano Lesson" is both unique to the plight of African-Americans and universal in its depiction of the human condition (Gale, 2000, p249). The sibling rivalry, past history versus present time and future, storytelling and gender relationships all cross both unique and universal boundaries. To illustrate, even in today's society there are sibling rivalry that pit brother against sister, brother against brother or sister against sister together to the point of bitter battle. In addition, there are still people in today's society that have difficulties in resolving painful past experiences with the present and future. In regards to gender relationships, there are still a lot of mysteries in the realm of love between two people. Bernice is the African-American way, staying true to her roots and not parting with the heritage. Although she finds this painful, she will not part with her heritage. Her heritage is “tangible in the presence of the piano itself” (Sparknotes, 2014). Therefore, even though the theme of this play surrounds itself around African-Americans, the situation can easily be applied to all races and time periods.

Their roles as women in China were also very different than their daughters’ roles as women in America. They were taught to be obedient and to listen to and respect their parents and their husbands. They do not understand why their daughters would want to disobey them, and their daughters do not understand why their mothers expect so much of them. What Jing-Mei doesn’t understand is that her mother just wants the best for her because she loves and cares about her. For example, when Jing-Mei Woo says that she will never be the kind of daughter that her mother, Suyaun wants her to be, her mother replies "Only two kinds of daughters…Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!" (pg. 153). Suyaun is frustrated because she would have never acted the way Jing-Mei is acting, towards her own mother. Women in China could never act disobedient towards anyone, or else they would be disowned.

As an adult, Jing-mei’s mother offers her the piano once more, and Jing-mei accepts the gift. Appreciating the encouragement and faith her mother bestows upon her Jing-mei decides to care for the piano. The piano piece

As a pianist, her career was a failure and thus we move into the climax of this story. On

First, Jing-Mei’s mother believes in absolute obedience. When Jing-Mei objects to practice her piano, her mother raged and screamed that there are “only 2 kinds of daughter [and] only obedient daughter can live in [her] house” (Tan 142). The varying family value is that the mother wants her daughter to obey her without question while the daughter believes in freedom and the ability to express her opinion. Thus, the daughters and mothers are in constant disagreement which ultimately places a weak relationship. Secondly, Chinese families tend to sacrifice everything for their love ones.