Compare And Contrast The Joy Luck Club And For A Daughter Who Leaves

The Joy Luck Club by author Amy Tan relates to “For A Daughter Who Leaves” by poet Janice Mirikitani because both deal with the theme of people taking control of their future by searching for a better life. In “For A Daughter Who Leaves” by Janice, Mirikitani deals with a girl going off to get married. Similarly, in the Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, Lindo Jong goes to live with the family of her husband in “The Red Candle”. However, in “The Red Candle” Lindo Jong does not want to get married and in “For a Daughter Who Leaves” the girl does want to get married. Lindo Jong tries to find a better life by getting out of the marriage and the girl in “For a Daughter Who Leaves” thinks that getting married will provide her with a happier, fuller life.

One Chinese tradition is that to prove the marriage will last, a red candle is lit at both ends and if the candle stays lit and burns through the night, the marriage can not be broken. Lindo, hoping the marriage would not last, went to the room where the candle was kept in “I was praying to Buddha, the goddess of mercy, and the full moon—to make that candle go out. It fluttered a little and the flame bent down low, but still both ends burned strong. My throat filled with so much hope that it finally burst and blew out my husband's end of the candle,” (60). In this section of the book we can clearly see how Lindo blows out the candle in order to take control of her future and hopefully have a better life. However, while Lindo hopes for her life to improve by escaping marriage, the girl in “For A Daughter Who Leaves” hopes to find new life in her marriage. This is shown when the poem says “A woman weaves her daughter's wedding slippers that will carry her steps into a new life,” (lines 4-7). This clearly shows the difference between Lindo in the Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan and “For A Daughter Who Leaves” by poet Janice