The Joy Luck Club Diction Analysis

How Much is Worth Sacrificing for “Love”?

Everyone regardless of difference in age, nationality or sex, is entitled to pursue individual wishes. This means no one should have the right to oppress another, even if they are bound by love. The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan, tells the story of the relationships and personal accounts between four Chinese mothers and their American-raised daughters. Despite the clear cultural barrier dividing these mothers and their daughters, one issue is apparent in both societies. They suffer living under a marriage dominated by their husband, in which ultimately brings about irrevocable losses. Amy Tan incorporates mood, diction and imagery to address the damaging consequences women suffer in marriage when

Lena goes into a marriage based on pure equality, especially on monetary matters. She soon realizes how this concept of “sharing” is ironically breaking them apart instead of maintaining a close bond. Lena conflicted about her choice thinks, “I wanted to protest. I wanted to say, ‘No! I’m not really this way about money, the way we’ve been doing it… I want’” (171). The employment of diction helps Amy Tan reveal Lena’s deep temptation to speak her mind about her troubling marriage to her husband, however, it also shows how she winds up complying to her husband’s wants anyways. “Protests” usually consist numerous people advocating for a certain idea to the public either violently or peacefully. Even though she stands alone against her husband, Lena feels so strongly about her cause she is even willing to “protest”, she “want[s] to”. She knows what she wants, but does not know how to say it because she has never been put in a position to project her voice. Despite knowing her husband’s actions are the problem, she proceeds by saying “we” in which conveys how she has started to share the blame equally, subconsciously following the concept her husband set out in the relationship. Strong communication is a key in order to establish any solid relationship. Both husband and wife should be open on this front, as when one voice mutes the other, the marriage is likely to fall