Internal Conflicts In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck

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”.

In “Seventh Grade” and “Melting Pot” these short stories, both have some time of internal and external conflict. Internal Conflict is when the conflict is happening inside of the main character’s head. External Conflict is when the problem happens between the main character and some force of nature. In both stories, there is a form of conflict or a problem.

The story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan explores the deep familial emotions between a mother and her daughter. Jing-Mei’s mother had left China to come to America after losing her family, and had been raising Jing-Mei in America with her second husband. Despite her mother’s grand hopes for Jing-Mei to become successful in America by becoming a child prodigy, Jing-Mei did not share the same opinions. This disagreement quickly became a source of resentment and anger for both of them, but Jing-Mei and her mother were unable to resolve this conflict because of their different backgrounds and experiences. The story showcases how relationships between mothers and daughters can be strained because of differences in culture and a lack of communication.

People may think that movies aren't as different as their book counterpart. While that may be true, there are many aspects between the book and the movie that aren't as similar. The book The Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan share many similarities and differences with the movie by the same name. The book and the movie possess similar qualities; nevertheless there are many parts where the movie diverged from the book. However, although there are many differences, both movie and book place an emphasis on the same themes.

A conflict is a serious disagreement or argument about something important. Most stories are based around conflict. There are two types of conflict: internal and external. Internal conflict is a character versus him or herself. External conflict is a character versus anything outside him or herself. The purpose of conflict is to keep the plot moving forward. In the book Eragon, the main character faces lots of internal and external conflict. Types of conflict the main character faces are person versus self, person versus person, person versus nature, and person versus allies.

The literary devices that Amy Tan use in Joy Luck Club are motifs, symbolism that develop the theme of the Joy Luck Club. the theme of Joy Luck Club is cherish the little things you see this theme many times throughout the Joy Luck club.

In contrast to romanticism, realism writings of the 1800s showed society as it really was. Two authors, Brett Harte who wrote “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” and Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” both expressed the idea that people need people. These authors relayed this societal message through external and internal conflict.

Culture: the beliefs, customs, art, etc. of a particular society. Being a part of a culture is amazing, diverse, and interesting until the conflict from being a part of more than one culture becomes involved. This type of conflict can even change the way you see your culture.

In “A Pair of Tickets,” Amy Tan described the journey of Jing-Mei Woo, a middle-aged, Chinese-American woman, to China where she experienced a compelling change in herself. The author herself is Chinese-American, which enabled her to use insightful experiences in the story that were similar to her own experiences to better illustrate the emotions that Jing-Mei felt. Reminiscing about her own trip to China, Tan wrote: “As soon as my feet touched China, I become Chinese” (Tan 146). As Jing-Mei made the long travel to her motherland, she experienced a series of events, met her long-lost relatives, reflected on her own memories, and listened to stories about her mother’s past, deepening the connection that she had with her mother

In Robert Cormier's brutally honest novel "the Chocolate War," Jerry comes home from school and asks his father how his day was, after his father responds with the usual fine, he thinks about what his life may be like in the future. "He hated thinking about his own life stretching ahead of him that way, a long succession of days and nights that were fine- not good, not bad, not great, not lousy, not exciting, not anything."(9:61) Jerry is scared of ending up like his father, just doing the same thing every day with no excitement. He is having an internal conflict because he is questioning his current life trajectory and what type of person he wants to be. Similarly, in the Curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Marl Haddon and A Raisin In the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the main Characters ,Christopher and Walter, also experience internal conflicts. The authors wish to convey the message that internal conflicts push characters towards the most self-discovery and personal development.

Family is a part of our culture that can also affect the way we view things. In the short story, “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, Jing-Mei is facing cultural conflict with her mother causing Jing-Mei to see the world differently with different morals. “For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me.” (Tan 24). With this statement you can see that she does not agree with her mother. Jing-Mei’s Mother was raised in Chinese culture, therefore she is very strict and demanding to Jing-Mei to do what she wants. From doing a chore, to hobbies or even Jing-Mei’s passion. on the other hand Jing-Mei is America born and has more of an American culture mind set, which cause her to seem rebellious to her mother. Said by Jing-Mei’s Mother, “only two kinds of daughters!” she shouted in Chinese “those who are obedient and those who follow their mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient Daughter!” (Tan 24). through this it can be said that Jing-Mei’s mother has a very different culture compared to

Often times in literature, character relationships change and evolve. “Two Kinds” written by Amy Tan, is a story about a daughter’s uncertain feelings toward her mother. Overtime, the mother-daughter relationship gets ruined when the daughter does not believe in her potential to be a child prodigy as strongly as her mother does. After an attentive analysis of the story, the reader is aware of how Jing-mei’s feelings toward her mother changes, why they did so, and how those changes affected the entire story.

Per a sociological website named, Boundless.com, the term, social conflict, can be defined as, “the struggle for agency or power within a given society” (Boundless:online). The site further expounds that social conflict can also occur “when two or more people are in opposition with one another through social interactions, reciprocally exerting social power in an effort to attain scarce or incompatible goals, and prevent the opponent from attaining them” (Boundless:online). In the story, Like Water for Chocolate, written by Laura Esquivel, one can view the concept of social conflict transpiring in the relationship between Tita and her mother, Mama Elena. This brief essay will utilize social conflict to explain the relationship between the two

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

“Her” external conflict is the struggle she goes through with the boy himself. He attracts her with his vibrancy and attention-grabbing abilities, typical qualities of the color red, and she draws him in with her calming persona, a basic characteristic of the color blue. When with him, she has to deal with his instability, and afterwards must eventually come to terms with him leaving her.