Daughters In The Joy Luck Club

“When I discover who I am, I will be free.” ~Ralph Ellison With a cultural identity as unclear as her own, Sarah Howe grew up questioning the human condition, specifically regarding the idea of belonging. Yet despite her great efforts in discovering what it means to have a bicultural heritage, her journey of understanding is forever ongoing. This journey and thirst for belonging inspired her poetry book Loop of Jade. Howe begins her book with the poem Mother’s Jewellery Box. The poem acts as a gateway to the main topic discussed in her other poems: the relationship between her and her Chinese heritage.

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston addresses prevalent topics faced in America today. How should women act? Should women be treated differently from men? In her memoir, Kingston faces many obstacles with her Chinese-American identity such as finding her voice as a young woman. In “White Tigers,” Kingston tells her own version of a popular Chinese ballad, “Fa Mu Lan,” while incorporating her own reality back into the section.

Error in Translation When people of different cultures and languages come together, certain aspects of one’s actions may be misconstrued simply due to the barriers that cultures provide. In Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club,” this idea is delved into further with four families consisting of Chinese mothers and American daughters as the focal point. Throughout the novel, the daughters misinterpret the actions and words of their mothers simply because they were raised very differently in terms of culture and language, among others. The first story told is about Jing-Mei Woo and her memories of her departed mother, Suyuan. In them, Jing-Mei (often referred to as June) talks about the issues she faced with her mother, saying “I can never remember things I didn’t understand in the first place.” (Tan 19) The most common problem addressed was her perception of her mother’s persistence on her success in a field, which to her seemed very pushy.

Amy Tan 's story "A Pair of Tickets" is about a girl who is Chinese-American woman 's struggle to accept her culture and identity. She went china to complete her mother’s dream of reunite the family. As we read through the story, we will see the protagonist Jing-Mei grew up with American influences and struggles with her Chinese heritage. Throughout the story, we will see how she is

What effects do different cultures take on mothers (Chinese) and daughters (American) throughout the book? The book “The Joy Luck Club” takes on an interesting way to present it’s plot to readers. It consists of the telling of the stories of four Chinese mothers (before they immigrated to the United States) in the first four chapters. Following this is the stories of these mother’s daughters (again, in four chapters). This “organization” of the first half of the story is key to allow the reader to really delve into each character’s story, personality, traits, and their cultural aspects.

A Pair of Tickets and Volar First story: The story A Pair of Tickets by Amy Tan is a story concerning family and heritage. Jing-Mei was a Chinese born in the USA and grew up with an American background culture, whereas her mother and father grew up in China and then immigrated to America. The narrator, Jing-Mei explores the internal conflicts affecting individuals living abroad. She wanted to prove how being ignorant and not embracing one’s own culture could make a person miss out on the most important elements of one’s life and heritage. The story illustrates the challenges faced by second generation American immigrant children.

Bharati was settling for “fluidity, self-invention, blue jeans, and T-shirts”(268). Bharati decided to be a part of a new community by marrying someone of a different community and living an American lifestyle. Unlike Mira, Bharati has adapted to the American community and has become a part of it. However, like Mira, she too has not felt welcomed in a community. Bharati compares Mira’s situation in America to one that she faced in Canada, where the government turned against the immigrants.

The author writes with cyclical elements to show that mothers and daughters may be more alike than they may seem The theme of Marriage and Divorce is cyclical because two of the daughters get divorced, and one has great deal of problems in her marriage. In The Joy Luck Club, the daughters start learning how to stand up for themselves to their partners. Rose Hsu Jordan finally tells her soon to be ex-husband that she wants their old house, and she is willing to fight for herself (Tan 196). Lena St. Clair tells her husband Harold that she isn’t happy with their marriage (Tan 164). The daughters don’t think their mothers have substantial advice to give them about their relationship issues, but they realize their mothers are wiser than they thought.

However what Nea does not understand in all her youth and idealism , is that sourdi does not want to be saved: She willfully accepts her fate and her marriage to Mr.Chhay because she finds financial stability and a secure future. Since the beginning of the story Nea believes that she is saving or protecting Sourdi from the expectations of her mother and Mr. Chhay. The mother and the uncle have fix a marriage with an older man named Mr.Chhay. Sourdi is a young girl that has a boyfriend name Duke, But her mom really dosen’t cares what Sourdi thinks or wants. So Sourdi meets Mr.chhay and she feels uncomfortable in the

This sense of careful design enhances Tan’s portrayal of traditional china with its rigidly structured hierarchies and social structures, its codified rituals, and its established protocols governing the lives of its people. By contrast, the American settings pulse with life, energy, and chaos. Whereas in China, the Joy Luck mothers had centuries of established convention dictating their behavior and America’s cultural practices are strange and unfathomable and these women who have left china specifically for the chance to start afresh in a new country far from the stultifying tradition of the old, find themselves reverting to the familiar customs of their faraway homeland. Barred for a variety of reasons from achieving the dreams of success that brought them to America, the mothers transfer their ambitions to their daughters in whom they hope to combine the best of Chinese and American culture. On those daughters, who grow up in Chinatown but attend American schools, rest the hopes of their immigrant

In the novel the Glass Castle Jeanette Walls learns from the mistakes of her parents that being successful in life depends of your characters and the choices you make in your life . Jeanette learns from her parents that if she doesn 't start thinking about her future at a young age , she’ll eventually be following the footsteps of her parents, and having an unpurposeful and an unrewarding lifestyle in her future. The Glass Castle suggests that in order to be successful in life you have to leave some things behinds and move on and that exactly what Jeannette Walls has done. Jeanette 's parents mistake was that they never thought about the future and always tried to enjoy the present. She chose to move away from her parents and live with her older sister and that decision she made was the main reason why she succeeded in life.

She used to get scholarships and get many awards. We wish, her to educate person and to achieve her goals, but she does not want to come and to study again. We try to change her mind but, finally we found about she is dating with a guy. Afterwards my parents and I knew about her boyfriend. My family did not want her to marry him, because of some important traditional and she is young too.

So I married Curley (Steinbeck 88).” She thought her mom had stole the letter she was waiting for from an agent who could get her into her career; she assumed her mom stole it because she thought her mom would have wanted her daughter to do what “normal” women do. Also, she is not considered a “normal” wife; “normal” for that time meant she was supposed to stay inside and do chores and cook. Instead, she goes around, talks to the men working and hides from her husband. Curley’s wife is lonely because no one talks to her to prevent trouble. George said to Lennie, “well, you keep away from her, ‘cause she’s a rat trap if I’ve ever seen one (Steinbeck 32).” Undoubtedly, the two characters Lennie and Curley’s are very contrasting characters; nonetheless they both share the feeling of being different and alone.

Edna has found her new found freedom by moving out of her big house she shared with her husband into a smaller house for herself. She is still trapped by her feeling s for Robert. He comes to visit her for the last time; Edna leaves Robert at her house and told him to wait for her. When she got back, Robert wasn’t there and left her a note, “I love you. Good-by –because I love you.” (Chopin, p148) which caused Edna to commit suicide because she realized she was not happy without her kids and society wouldn’t accept her because she left her husband.

Amy Tan is one of the most famous multicultural authors in the world to this day. The Joy Luck Club, one of her most popular books, is highly influenced by her life. This book is about four Chinese women and the loss of culture transferred from them to their daughters. The book takes place in San Francisco and partially in China where the main character goes to find her half sisters. Just like the daughters in the book, Amy Tan has lost a lot of Chinese culture from her parents, who were born in China, to her and her brothers.