Analysis of Joy Luck Club Essay - 750 Words

Analysis of Joy Luck Club Ask any typical-looking Asian students around campus whether they are Chinese or Japanese and the reply will probably be universal: Neither, Im Chinese-American. In reality, developing a clear concept of exactly how they define themselves as a race has become a difficult thing to do in this day and age for most Chinese-Americans. Many have become so well adjusted to the American way of life, that the only thing still tying them to their ancestral roots is physical appearance and the answer to the SAT questionnaire about ethnicity background. This is the basis for the overall theme of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. The Joy Luck Club is a group of varied stories rooted in the culture clash between†¦show more content†¦It is the tie that binds them together; it is what keeps them grounded in what little Chinese culture is left for them to have and hold. Growing up during perilous times in China, they all were taught to desire nothing, to swallow other peoples misery, to eat [their] own bitterness. (p. 241). Though not many of them grew up terribly poor, they all had a certain respect for their elders, and for life itself. These Chinese mothers were all taught to be honorable, to the point of sacrificing their own lives to keep any family members promise. They all were taught to desire nothing, to swallow other peoples misery, to eat [their] own bitterness. (p. 241). This is in comparison to the American daughters who grew up with little to almost no culture. Lindo Jong, whose daughter, Waverly, doesnt even know four Chinese words, describes the complete difference and incompatibility of the two worlds she tried to connect for her daughter, American circumstances and Chinese character. She explains that there is no lasting feeling in being born in America, and that all being a minority means is that you are the first in line for scholarships. Most importantly, she notes that In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody els e gives you. (p. 289). Living in America, it was easy for Waverly to accept American circumstances and to grow up as any other American citizen. As a ChineseShow MoreRelatedJoy Luck Club Character Analysis1045 Words   |  5 PagesThe Joy Luck Club Theme Analysis The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is an entertaining book that focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families. They face problems in their hometown which causes them to move to the United States. They end up moving to San Francisco and face many different problems with their cultural background. The theme of The Joy Luck Club is the relationship between both the mothers and their daughters. A variety of different events occur throughout the book that explainsRead MoreJoy Luck Club Analysis981 Words   |  4 Pagesas well.† (Tan 213). The Joy Luck club is a book containing sixteen stories told by four mother-daughter pairs, as well as four anecdotes about no particular character. The mothers are all Chinese Immigrants. Each mothers story details their experiences in China, while the daughters talk about life in America. The exception to this is with the Woo family, where the mother, Suyuan, has passed away, and the daughter, June, tells her stories for her. In ‘The Jo y Luck Club’, Amy Tan uses the storiesRead MoreAnalysis Of The Joy Luck Club Essay1250 Words   |  5 Pagestheme in two novels. A main theme in two novels in this class, Bliss Me Ultima and The Joy Luck Club, is family. Family is highlighted in both books. In Bliss Me Ultima, Antonio and other members is his family every year go help his mother’s extended family, The Lunas, tend to their lands. In The Joy Luck Club, Jing-mei fulfills her mother wish of reuniting with her twin sisters in China. Also in The Joy Luck Club, another narrator, Lena, acts as a translator for her mother to her father since theyRead MoreJoy Luck Club Cultural Analysis1387 Words   |  6 PagesThis response deals with the children of immigrants. The Joy Luck Club mothers shared the same desire for their daughters which was to live the American dream and be successful. The mothers wanted their daughters to be Chinese but the girls were just too Americanised. When Waverly was worried that she might not be let back into the country following her trip to China, her mother Lindo scoffed that only her skin and hair were Chinese, inside she is all American-made. I have decided to look atRead MoreCharacter Analysis : The Joy Luck Club1005 Words   |  5 Pagesexternal conflict that occurs in a story when individual characters struggle against other external forces; a character may struggle against other characters, animals or even natural forces. In the fictional book The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, one of the Chinese women part of the Joy Luck Club known as Lindo-Jong suffers an ongoing physical conflict between her and her future husbands family the Huangs; from the age of twelve to the age of sixteen years old when her parents leave her behind and theRead MoreAnalysis Of The Movie The Joy Luck Club 983 Words   |  4 Pagestheir daughters. Therefore, the mother s opinion on how they should act, which is behaving like the Asian woman, is most evident. This is the case in the movie The Joy Luck Club. There are certain behaviors that Asian women are expected to have, and the mothers feel that their daughters should use these behaviors. In The Joy Luck Club, the film traces the fate of the four mothers-Suyuan Woo, An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-ying St. Clair-and their four daughters-June Woo, Rose Hsu Jordan, WaverlyRead MoreJoy Luck Club Character Analysis1032 Words   |  5 PagesIn The Joy Luck Club, the daughters of the Chinese immigrant mothers consistently struggle with communication and understanding, partially because of the language barrier between them, and partially because of the different circumstances they have been raised in. In the article â€Å"Thoughts From the Daughter of a Chinese Mother,† the writer notes an increasingly different set of values from one generation of immigrants to the next, stating â€Å"...the next generation of kids grow up spoiled by Western notionsRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Joy Luck Club 937 Words   |  4 Pagesup together. Towards the end of the novel, a gathered opinion can be made on the three characters true to all the viewpoints. The Joy Luck Club is a movie, based off a novel written by Amy Tan, displaying the struggles of a group of Chinese women and their daughters. The women grew like a family when they moved from China to San Francisco. The woman in the joy luck club all experienced rape, domestic violence or being abandoned by their family early in adulthood. Christina, Ida and Suyuan all liveRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Joy Luck Club 1700 Words   |  7 PagesChurchill English 2 Honors, Period 0 6 September 2015 Reconciliation Swan feathers. Hopes and dreams. Broken relationships and healing. Though these concepts might initially appear incongruous, they are all depicted in the book The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan and The Joy Luck Club film directed by Wayne Wang. Both modes of interpretation show how the mothers help their daughters solve their problems by explaining the formers’ pasts. However, while the book leaves each of the daughters’ stories open endedRead MoreAnalysis Of Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club1369 Words   |  6 PagesA Perspective of the American Dream The Joy Luck Club Was written by 1989 by Amy Tan, a first generation American born in 1952 to immigrant parents. Tan was raised by her mother, who had left kids back in China, and a father, who was a Baptist minister. She grew up in California and attended high school in Switzerland. At the age of 15 her brother and father died of a brain tumor. Tan perceives the American dream in the way that an Asian immigrant would, which would be to pass down what we know so