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Examples Of Irony In The Joy Luck Club

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Irony Irony is extremely prevalent at the beginning of this book, when the Japanese occupation of China is being illustrated. Irony is also present in the interactions between mothers and daughters because of misunderstandings. Mothers use insults because of love, give seemingly hypocritical advice, et cetera. She uses irony to show the extreme conditions Suyuan was living in, “people in the city were starving, eat rats and later, the garbage that the poorest rats used to feed on (24).” It’s ironic that people, usually thought as clean and respectable, are eating garbage that most rats, thought as dirty and pathetic, wouldn’t eat. “...to think a thousand-yuan note wasn’t even good enough to rub our bottoms.” It’s also ironic that currency, usually seen as valuable, is used to clean waste. These two quotes point out how awful these people’s conditions were by using irony. An ironic moment later in the book is when Lindo learns that Waverly is going to China for her honeymoon. This is ironic because Waverly had been rebelling against her Chinese heritage and now she’s gushing about travelling there and bragging about being Chinese just because it’s become fashionable.

Symbols The Joy Luck Club is a symbol of the mothers’ friendships and their new lives in America. The East seat represents, “where things begin, my …show more content…

Lindo talks about how strange it is that she notices certain things when “it seems life is about to end (58).” Ying-Ying also says some crazy things right after her newborn son dies. The fact that good people aren’t always lucky is really prevalent in Lindo’s story as well. She belonged to a good family, but a flood still came and washed their home away. Rose’s family didn’t do anything wrong, but their youngest son still drowned. Suyuan was a good person, but she was still forced to abandon her babies in China. Bad things happen to good

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961 Words | 4 Pages

This piece of literature is filled with irony. Verbal, dramatic and situational irony can all be found throughout the novel. Dramatic irony is especially found in the lines “Tonight, having dried and brushed her hair and bound it in a gauzy bandanna, she set out the clothes she intended to wear to church the next morning: nylons, black pumps, a red velveteen dress- her

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979 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel Suyuan was shaped as a strong woman. While she was, one topic brought her much pain. During an argument Jing-Mei tells her mother “‘Then I wish I’d never been born! I shouted. I wish I were dead!

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927 Words | 4 Pages

In Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club, many cultural differences exist between the characters, creating complications in their relationships. An example of a cultural difference is between An-mei’s Chinese values and traditions and those of Christianity. The collision of these Chinese and Christian faiths profoundly influences An-Mei's character by causing her to doubt both faiths and resulting in her daughter Rose's inability to control her own choices. An-mei’s exposure to Chinese culture and the Christian faith results in an intermixing of both ideals which eventually leads to a cultural collision. An-mei is exposed to the traditional Chinese values of filial piety, wisdom, deference, and honesty through her grandmother.

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1362 Words | 6 Pages

Before her death, Suyuan had told the other mothers in The Joy Luck Club about what had happened to her when she was in China so that later on Jing-mei would hear the story and would want to fulfill her mother’s wish. Comparing to this text that Campbell wrote, “There are two types of deeds. One is the physical deed, in which the hero performs a courageous act in battle or saves a life. The other kind is the spiritual deed, in which the hero learns to experience the supernormal range of human spiritual life and then comes back with a message” (1). Suyuan not only died trying to find her daughters but as well as being with Jing-mei and the twins spiritually when they reconnected in China.

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207 Words | 1 Pages

Thesis Statement about theme of literary work- In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, expressions of love and hatred are shown in multiple mother-daughter relationships resulting in negative impacts such as pain, bitterness, and regret because of their differing opinions. Support Point #1- Suyuan Woo guiltily leaves her twin daughters on the ground in China as she walks away in tears.

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492 Words | 2 Pages

Technology has advanced tremendously in the last decade! it seems as if it progresses every day. The better the technology gets, the better quality of video games. The Xbox One and the Playstation Four are the next generation of exemplary gaming, both packed with amazing features and gadgets. The question is, which console is the most superior?

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630 Words | 3 Pages

In the text, Irony is used to really create a lot of the conflicts in the

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1446 Words | 6 Pages

Irony is often used in literature to illustrate certain situations to the audience. In some pieces of literature that might be pointing out an unjust system, in others that might be to add a comedic effect, but whatever situation the author wants to illustrate, irony is very beneficial. Through small and witty, one-liners, or a bigger dramatic irony situation contrasting two very different situations, irony can be very beneficial for the reader to understand the story. Both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins have a corrupt dystopian society. Through the use of irony, the author can portray the corruptness to the audience.

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521 Words | 3 Pages

As seen by the mothers’ and daughters’ behavior towards each other in The Joy Luck Club, it is difficult to preserve one’s culture when one is exposed to a new environment or country. With a difference of two distinct generations between them, the four main pairs often come across cultural collisions. Other than facing the age gap, these mothers and daughters also have to deal with a language and communication barrier. Already, at the beginning of the story, Jing-Mei Woo is able to understand how the mothers of the “Joy Luck Club” are displeased with their daughter’s rejection of their Chinese culture. She speaks to herself, admitting that “they are frightened.

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816 Words | 4 Pages

An example of irony in the section about the students is the idea of what is good or bad. As its states, “Students throw out many good things, including food” (Eighner 110). Presumably, food is thrown out because it is bad and is unfavorable to the student, however; Eighner finds that the student throwing out food is a good thing because it is favorable thing to him and others. Another example of irony is the food’s value. As its states, “The students does not know that, and since it is Daddy’s money, the student decides not to take a chance” (Eighner 111).

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233 Words | 1 Pages

Irony is the most powerful literary device used in the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. First, a good example of irony in the story is “They were burdened with sashweights sand bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in.” (P,2 Line, 11-13) This quote is Ironic as it tells how this system was designed to hide beauty, yet beauty was still shown by the amount of restraints on the person. Second, another good example of irony is, “The spectacles were intended to make him not only half-blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.

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760 Words | 4 Pages

Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club is an amazing representation of what Chinese immigrants and their families face. The broad spectrum of the mothers’ and daughters’ stories all connect back to a couple of constantly recurring patterns. These patterns are used to show that how the mothers and daughters were so differently raised affected their relationships with each other, for better and for worse. To begin with, the ever-present pattern of disconnect between the two groups of women is used to show how drastically differently they were raised.

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728 Words | 3 Pages

The use of irony portrays how the trip ended up teaching Sylvia, the protagonist of the story, more than she

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1026 Words | 5 Pages

In The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan, we are introduced to Suyuan and her daughter Jing-Mei “June” Woo. As with any relationship, there is conflict between Suyuan Woo and her daughter, as it seems that Jing-Mei doesn’t understand her mother’s Chinese culture and ambitions. In the Chinese culture, women are seen as inferior and often lack basic rights such as the right to marriage or financial holdings, thus deprived of their potential. This is why the rights in the U.S. are seen as privileges to Chinese women, among other minorities, and why Suyuan endeavored for her daughter to become a prodigy and excel in anything and everything. Yet as Jing-Mei was forced into this ideal, and the more her mother tried to enforce this idea, the further she begun to despise her mother for attempting to turn her into a “fraud”.

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686 Words | 3 Pages

One clear example of irony occurs when Laurie’s mother attends the PTA Meeting. For example “you must have your hands full in that kindergarten, with Charles.” Then the teacher states “Charles?” “We don't have any Charles in this kindergarten.” (Page 476)

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