Belonging In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

Mother knows best. And yet so many daughters in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club feel slighted by what the matriarchal figures in their lives have in mind for them, or rather, what they believe their mothers have in mind for them. A perfect storm of expectation, true and false, about love, about success, about being Chinese. The souring of mother-daughter relationships in The Joy Luck Club stem from unrealistic or ill conceived expectations that both parties hold for the other.

This may stray away from the thesis, but it all ties together so the reader may see all times of viewpoints. Mistri talks about how remarkably, none of these mothers’ longs for her daughter to be Chinese following nothing but Chinese ways, for each woman has come to America with the intent of making a better life in which her family would know the renowned American feats. The structure of this short story sequence becomes a essential representation for the thematic features that link these stories to each other, connecting an understood dialogue among the four mothers and their daughters as they tell their

In her novel, The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan focuses on the fact that the bond between a mother and daughter can overcome any ethnic barrier. Despite there being many disagreements and arguments about the ways to live their lives, Tan defies this issue by creating a bond that is unbreakable even though the experienced different upbringings. Certain disagreements keep the novel interesting and create a conflict depicting the problems stemming from this barrier. Through her use of similes, metaphors, and flashbacks, Tan shows how the bond between a mother and daughter can withstand even the strongest cultural differences.

There daughters were always ashamed of and resented their mothers, especially while they were young. The daughters felt this way because of the way their mothers raised them. The mothers were very hard on their daughters, and pushed them towards successful, sometimes causing their daughter to feel overwhelmed. The mothers wanted their daughters to keep their Chinese heritage and culture, but also take advantage of the opportunities they have in America. The daughters were often ashamed of their Chinese heritage, and the way that their mothers acted.

Joy luck only exist among these mothers is because they 've all went through certain tough experience to finally get to where they are today, where they finally have happiness. Unlike June Woo and the other daughters, they were born in America, they did not need to go through what their mothers have went through. Maybe the word joy luck does not exist in the exact form to these daughters but joy luck does certainly exists in a similar form to them. This is because these daughter grew up with the American culture dominating over their Chinese heritage. As a daughter to an Chinese mother that migrated to America, I understand this tale very well. I on the other hand grew up with the Chinese heritage dominating over America 's culture due to me growing up in Chinatown and went to a Chinese dominated elementary school.

“Communication is the key to a successful relationship, attentiveness, and consistency. Without it, there is no relationship,” (Bleau). The Joy Luck Club is a novel written by Amy Tan. Set in the twentieth century, this novel depicts the life of four Chinese immigrant women escaping their past and their American-grown daughters. The novel reveals the mothers’ hardship-filled past and motivations alongside with the daughters’ inner conflicts and struggles.

Tan expresses the life experiences of Chinese immigrants to the United States and attempts to depict the relationship of a mother and daughter through her significant piece of writing ‘The Joy Club’. Therefore, all these authors somehow portrayed their early struggles and their view point towards life from their literary

The story “Two Kinds” is from the book The Joy Luck Club. The story mainly focuses on the relationships between mothers and daughters. Internal conflict means that it is a conflict a character has with his or her self. Throughout every storyline there is either an internal or external conflict. Two Kind by Amy Tan has a variation of both. Both Jing-mei and her mother faces each form of conflict and they are revealed throughout the story.

Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club is an amazing representation of what Chinese immigrants and their families face. The broad spectrum of the mothers’ and daughters’ stories all connect back to a couple of constantly recurring patterns. These patterns are used to show that how the mothers and daughters were so differently raised affected their relationships with each other, for better and for worse.

Lessons from the Culture Every year we see family emigrate to other countries, and they face many challenges. The stories “Sweet, Sour, and Resentful”, by Firoozeh Dumas, and from “Fish Cheeks”, by Amy Tan, share similar cultures and really interesting stories. Also, both families from the essay share several challenges that they are face when they move to the United States of America. The two families share many similarities; however, they differ in to keeping their culture, showing openness, and teaching a lesson from their culture to others.

She shares the struggles of being a Chinese-American woman by telling the readers her story as well as other girls who went through the same thing. Their inability to speak or at lease to speak properly has a lot to do with the Chinese culture. They are taught from a young age that they live in a patriarchal society and they have to submit to it whether they like it or not. The pressure and expectations that are set upon their shoulders may have caused them to become voiceless, it may have caused them to realized that even if they had a voice, they would never be able to use it. Not only were the readers able to get a look into Chinese society but also into typical Chinese families.

Immigrants that are new to the American society are often so used to their own culture that it is difficult for them to accept and adapt to the American culture. The language that is spoken, as well as the various holidays and traditions that Americans entertain themselves with, aren’t what most immigrants would deem a neccessity for their life to move on. Nonetheless, they still have to be accustomed to these things if they have any chance of suceeding in a land where knowledge is key. The story “My Favorite Chaperone” written by Jean Davies Okimoto, follows the life of a young girl who along with her brother Nurzhan, her mother known as mama, and her father whom she refers to as Papi have immigrated to the United States from Kazakhstan, through a dating magazine. Throughout the story each family member faces problems that causes them to realize just how different their life is know that they’ve immigrated..

In Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club, the different stories show how the different characters develop and progress. Rose Hsu Jordan begins “Half and Half” as someone who clearly lacks of conviction as she allows everyone but her to make decisions. Throughout “Without Wood”, however, Rose Hsu Jordan begins to learn, with the help of her mother, how to speak up. In both stories, Rose Hsu Jordan’s development transforms her from a timid and passive girl, to an assertive woman who doesn’t allow others to step on her. Nonetheless, this change was brought upon not by an event, but rather, it was brought upon by Rose’s mother. An-Mei is responsible for transforming Rose from a timid and passive woman into one with an actual “voice”.

Barry seems to have an internal conflict about the future and how it will play out for his daughter and him, and is fearful about if it that means they won’t be as close anymore. “He was acutely aware of how tenuous her life was, of how much he would suffer if he lost her. For a long time afterward, he thought of her as being intricately constructed of fragile paper.” (3). For a father, Barry is fairly protective of her daughter ever since she was younger, and it seems that seeing her grow up makes it difficult for him to let go of her and let her grow up a

That in return turns into resentment within the mother daughter relationship. In a study performed by Akm Aminur Rashid that was published in the Journal Of Humanities And Social Science states Mrs. Woo “places unreasonable expectations on the shoulders of her young tender daughter. While the mother may not exactly know where her daughter’s prodigal talents lie, she is nevertheless adamant that her daughter is destined for greatness, by virtue of having been born in America” (Matondang, A. Yakub, and Dja’Far Siddik, IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Www.iosrjournals.org). Although, Tan’s story is set 29 years ago, this issue of elevated expectations and cultural differences still remains today.