Forgiveness In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

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Violence, hate, pain, hurt, and trauma are all unfortunate and inevitable elements of a human’s life. What makes humans so unique in how they live, is that they have the ability to choose. To be able to choose what they do with their pain. To choose whether to let go or continue the wrongs and contribute to the vicious cycle. To choose to let go and free both themselves and the wrongdoer. Regardless of what had happened, such a finite action should not be held against someone for an indefinite amount of time. All wrongdoings should be forgiven, whether that forgiveness is achieved through an apology, punishment, or a mutual understanding. In The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, there is a story about June Woo. June was a child, when she started exploring …show more content…

These are both examples of how they do not need to understand each other to forgive each other. Forgiveness is also healing to both the people involved. Grudges built over time start to hurt, and form knots in your throat, but forgiveness can help remedy that ailment. Rose had been in a less than satisfactory marriage with Ted, and only had her psychiatrist to confide in. “[Rose] told [her] psychiatrist [she] was obsessed with revenge’, and felt this rush, a new turning point in her life, but she had seen that her “psychiatrist just looked bored’, with a listless look and no wanting to help her (Tan 189). Rose had felt lost, no one wanted to help her, and her life was falling apart. After her mother calls her, Lena thinks that her mother wants to save the marriage, but she was surprised when she said “I am not telling you to save your marriage [...] I only say you should speak up” (Tan 193). Finally liberated, Rose decides to skip her appointment with her psychiatrist and divorce Ted right there. She had realized just how strong her words were. This support from her mother, and how her mother did not support this revenge, but simply letting go of the marriage, had finally let Rose explore herself,