Joy Luck Club Sexism

Media around the world condemned for sexist Olympics coverage, an article from The Los Angeles Times, shares examples of sexist news coverage that relates to anecdotes from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. The article condemns the Chicago Tribune for referring to a woman as the wife of a Bears lineman (Makinen). In the Joy Luck Club, Anmei-Hsu’s mother becomes as the fourth wife of Wu Tsing. Because of this, her family disowns her and Anmei’s aunt warns her that her mother is “decayed flesh, evil, rotted to the bone” (Tan 216). Anmei’s mother’s worth was determined only by her marital status. Similarly, the Chicago Tribune referred to her by her marriage. Furthermore, the article also criticizes Dan Hicks for saying that Katinka Hosszu’s husband

One of the lessons explained in the article is starting at the bottom. The writer’s parents had to work at low-paying jobs at first in order to make a living (Lee). Likewise, Lindo Jong worked in a fortune cookie factory when she first reached America (Tan 263). Another lesson in the article regards. making sacrifices. The writer says, “My parents had to let go of their own selfish desires to gamble on creating a beautiful life in an unfamiliar place” (Lee). Similarly, Jing-Mei Woo’s mother lost almost everything: “her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls. But she never looked back with regret. There were so many ways for things to get better” (Tan 132). At the end of the article, the author writes that his parents worked so hard in order to obtain a better future for him. They wanted him to have the best opportunities and succeed (Lee). Lindo Jong also wanted this for her daughter. She thinks, “I wanted everything for you to be better. I wanted you to have the best circumstances, the best character” (Tan 265). The author of 6 Life Lessons I Learned from my Chinese Immigrant Parents describes the lessons learned from the sacrifices his parents made, which can also be found in The Joy Luck