The Joy Luck Club Identity

Everyone sees the world through their eyes differently depending on the influences they have had in their life, especially with their culture. In Amy Tan’s novel the Joy Luck Club the protagonist Jing-Mei ( June) Woo as well as the other characters in the novel experience life in an on-going struggle with their culture identity. The author Amy Tan presents how the main character views others and the world using symbolism, flashbacks, and point of view.

Symbolism within storytelling and objects were used to spread the idea of culture. A story is told of a woman who brings a swan with her on her journey to America, it was taken away by immigrant officials “ leaving the woman fluttering her arms and with only one swan feather for a memory” ( Tan 16 ) . The significance of the feather is that it represents the long journey from China to America, new beginnings, also how the swan was actually a duck to begin with, but it ended up being “a creature that became more than what was hoped for” (Tan 16). The mother however won’t be able to tell the daughter the story just yet due to the fact that was raised speaking

The story goes back to when the Joy Luck Club was in the process of being created. Suyuan, Jing-Mei’s mom knew who she wanted which “ was a gathering of four women, one for each corner of the mahjong table… all young like me with wishful faces” ( Tan 23). In a time of sadness Suyuan surrounded herself with three other women of the same background and they radiated positivity. Instead of the four mothers feeling down about current situations they would celebrate and save money for possible future trips to China. Thus the beginning of the Joy Luck Club. However not only did the creation of the Joy Luck Club occur in a flashback, but also a time where Jing-Mei felt as if her mother wanted her to be someone she was not meant to