The Joy Luck Club Heroism Analysis

As discussed in the previous chapter, cultural and language barrier have caused serious obstacles for the mothers and daughters. Not being able to see and think from each other’s perspective blocks the path to effective communication which result in silence between them. The focus of this chapter is to analysis in details of Jing-mei’s change after her mother’s death and her trip to China to meet her lost sisters, which symbolizes that her split identity is healed and her relationship with her mother is reconciled as well. The mother-daughter relationships between the other mothers and daughters in The Joy Luck Club will also be studied When Jing-mei is young, she is the same as the other three daughters - an outsider of their mothers’ world. She laughs at her mother’s “fractured English” and she “[grows] impatient” when her mother speaks Chinese (40).

Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club explores the conflicts between two generations and two different cultures. Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club is a novel that touches upon the relationships and conflicts of Chinese mothers and their American raised daughters.

3.2 The Individualism and Collectivism Reflected in The Joy Luck Club Individualism - collectivism, according to Hofstede statistics, China 's index is 20, while the United States is 91. It is clear that Chinese culture is attributed to the collectivist culture, and American culture is attributed to the individualistic culture. Individualism people tend to care about themselves and small families, more respect for a person 's values, dignity and power. Individualist children learn to think from the perspective of “I”. Outspoken is honest man 's performance.

The final difference explored in this essay is the ending, in other words Jing-Mei’s trip to China. In the book, Jing-Mei travels to China in a plane with her father. The twins already know that their mother is dead, as Aunt Lindo included that detail in the letter. They meet the twins together, having both her father and her finish her mother’s dream together. In the movie, Jing-Mei travels to China alone.

She felt sorry and wanted the best for Helen, and Kate would have done anything to protect her. In the story, Kate wanted to call a doctor to help Helen, but Captain Keller disagreed. Keller’s line reads, “I’ve stopped believing in wonders… Katie. How many times can you let them break your heart?”

Guilt begins with Suyuan Woo, who had to abandon her two daughters in Kweilin, China, before coming to America. “And that's why you can understand why a mother like this could never forget her own daughters. She knew they were alive and before she died she wanted to find her daughters in China”(The Joy Luck Club 39). Suyuan always had her daughters in the back of her mind, and could never let go of the guilt she had over them. The most prominent example of shame and guilt occurs between the mothers and daughters.

A protagonist whom others may view as a pushover is introduced by the name of Ruth. A widowed, Chinese-immigrant whom Ruth loathes to call ‘mother’, raised her in the 20th century in California. While Ruth was born and raised there, her mother, Luling, was born and raised in Beijing, China. The two extremely large cultural differences caused both mother and daughter to clash. In The Bonesetter’s Daughter, Amy Tan explores how humans who grow up with culturally diverse environments overcome their differences and learn to accept and adapt to each other's needs.

As her journey continues the paternal love roles begin to change -- Angela becomes a mother. She begins to take care of her younger sister, Aurora -- giving her light. It was not until Hannah’s death that Angela was able to reconnect with her mother, “but even if she hated me, there had been a moment of something akin to love, back the creation.” (251) Angela realized the sacrifices her mother made and finds some good in that, her mother gave her life.

Traditions are that of old family tells and stories from our grandparents and great grandparents, as they get passed on to generation after generation they tend to develop and modify to help aid who the stories are being told to and allow that person to benefit from them as the situation develops. This is very common in most ethnicities, however in the Chinese tradition it is important to listen and follow these talk-stories as their elders are telling them. In the memoir, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston, Kingston establishes a relationship between silence and finding ones voice through the talk-stories and Chinese traditions she encounters that truly forms her perspective on finding her own identity as a Chinese American.

In Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, Susie Solomon stands as the protagonist of the novel whose life is cut short by her foil character, Mr. Harvey. In Susie’s narration of her family’s coping with her unexpected murder, she emits pure love and tenderness in a naively large supply for everyone until, and in most cases after, her final interaction with Mr. Harvey. Even in her death and her placement in purgatory, “[Susie] worried that [her] sister, left alone, would do something rash”(29) and “[she] wanted to kiss [Franny] lightly on the cheek or have [Franny] hold [her]”(41). This natural desire to protect her sister and to give/receive comfort from her friend similarly condemned to purgatory shows how her death did not change her character,