Title And Genre: The Kitchen God's Wife Note Card

Pearl Turnage, Mattie's older sister, has given in to the stereotypes that are now plaguing Mattie, and insists that she do the same. In fact, she invites Mattie to accompany her to the funeral home where

Her life has been a series of struggles and hardships, which she has kept from her daughter Pearl. Winnie's only companion as a child was her mother, who abandoned her just before adolescence, at the time when Winnie needed her most. Her departure marked the beginning of Winnie's long journey with many disappointments and tribulations.

Under the influence of different cultures, different identities are formed. Jing-Mei Woo (June), similar to Waverly, also lives in between two worlds. June, since young, is accustomed to two sets of culture and beliefs. Jing-Mei’s mother has lost everything when she comes to the United States, and she has all her hopes on her daughter, therefore she wants to train her daughter to be a genius. As the mother presses all the homeworks on June, June loses heart and cries “I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m not” . By crying and shouting out loud, June wants to declare her self identity, which ultimately reflects on the American individualism, which is one of the most integral parts of the U.S. value. Being raised in

Jing-Mei characterizes her mother as an ideal parental figure by showing how much hope she has in her daughter. Her mother’s only wishes are to give her daughter more opportunities than she had growing up in China. And by doing this she shows that no matter how many conflicts there is between a mother and daughter, a mother will never give up hope on her daughter. She will cherish her for who she is in the end.

The story is around an American-conceived Chinese lady, Jing-mei, who goes to China to meet her twin stepsisters that her mom was compelled to relinquish numerous prior years. Since her mom had passed away just a couple of months prior, the meeting is full of vulnerability and bitterness. Jing-mei battles with self-character issues and what it truly intends to be Chinese. En route, she takes in reality about the reasons her mom deserted her sisters and the significance behind their names. At last, she at last associates with her sisters and makes the passionate association with her Chinese legacy.

In the beginning Pearl is living with her mother, father, thirteen year old sister Lexie, and Bitey the cat in New York City. Pearl was entering fifth

Theme: is the conflict between generations in changing Japan. Meaning 
the ways of past generations are giving way to new values that have not been fully developed in the younger generations. One exanple of this being that suicide, carried out in the face of defeat have now lost of its meaning and honor in younger generations.

The four mothers first came to America with nothing, hoping to build better lives. They had difficult lives, each with countless amounts of struggles. The mothers wanted their children to have a perfect American life with a knowledge of Chinese culture. However, they came to realize that this hope of being American and keeping their Chinese heritage fully intact was not plausible. The swan best represents Lena, and her journey to grow from an unassertive, shy, and insecure young girl to a strong and independent woman. Ying-ying had hoped that Lena would eventually stand up for herself, to embrace her inner tiger. Ying-ying always wanted her daughter to have a better life than herself, to be confident and fearless. In the novel, Ying-ying says,

Pearl not knowing of any father or having any friends and living outside of the town has made Pearl a strong independent child.As she grew, pearl began to see how her life was, Pearl being a young child was helping her mother and herself get through the rough time they have to face with the whole town Pearl is seen to be just as tough as her mother having to face cruelty at a young age being the victim in her mothers shadow.As she grows up, she has no friends and only has imaginary friends that she makes up in her head.She knows how to deal with all the poor comments that society has made about her mother and her.“Pearl wanted not a wide and various circle of acquaintance.”(84) Pearl only growing up being her and her mother made her realize that she did not need anyone else but her,because her mom and everything was making her a stronger independent individual.

Possessing the will to survive does not make a hero. Having the drive to return home does not make a hero. Slaughtering men

father for her. Alice gets to know Mr. Mellanis family and for the first time she feels happy in San Francisco. Sheila has parties nearly

The nurse returned, scolded them, insisted her arm moved because they went around a curve, and took the necklace. They arrive at the train station. An African American man took there bags to a car. They got in and he began driving. Lou and Oz asked his name, but he did't reply. They later find out his name is Eugene. They picked up and dropped off a man named "diamond". They finally arrived at Louisa's house. When they enter, she tells the nurse to leave. The nurse refuses, but she forces her to. She shows the kids to their rooms. Lou is staying in her dad's old room. It even has desk with his initials in it. Diamond shows up with several fish to eat for dinner. He says that men are coming to look at people's property for

Jing-Mei finds a new person that was determined to fight against her mother. Moreover, Jing Mei

Her only companion was her mother and a few times Dimmesdale. The alienation that Pearl faced affected her mentally and her behaviour, the townspeople and at times Pearl’s own mother called her using degrading names. However, in reality Pearl grew up completely on her own, in the middle of the wilderness, alienated from

Sexual harassment is one of the central themes in the novel The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan. Before Winnie gets married, she reads a book about sex, which provides her with information on what a husband likes and how often a woman needs to perform her duties. When she sexually active for the first time, Wen Fu is gentle and stops whenever she becomes afraid and screams too much, nevertheless, he constantly soothes her and persuades her to continue. Winnie first takes it lightly when he mentions that he is not satisfied with her and wants her to transition into a proper behaving wife. Then, he becomes cruel, making her say dirty words about woman’s body parts, which reminds her of a saltwater whore’s, the kind who would give her body to foreign sailors. When she refuses, he drags her towards the door like a bag of rice, opens the door and then pushes her outside into the corridor of the monastery, where anyone passing by, can see her naked. He beats her up in order to make her become afraid of taking other risks if she resists, resulting in her to submit her body to him instead. Relating to this, he makes her engage in sexualized games, where he makes her stand in the room naked and when he names a body part, she has to put her finger and touch herself on there. Winnie no longer feels that her body is a private space, rather a public space belonging to her husband.