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Patriarchy In The Joy Luck Club

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Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club features eight stories told by women with a Chinese background. However, The Joy Luck Club utilizes the stories told by the women in order to explore many controversial topics including patriarchy within the Chinese culture. Many of the mothers in The Joy Luck Club endure the patriarchal ideals put onto themselves when they lived in China, but the character who most prominently deals with the patriarchal ideals within the Chinese culture is Lindo Jong. After countenancing a patriarchal society for many years, Lindo develops as a person by emulating antiquated ideals and pushing antithetical ideals onto herself and her daughter, Waverly.
Lindo Jong develops as a person when she decides to use her wit to escape her unpleasant marriage. For a while, Lindo almost loses herself by merely accepting the patriarchal ideals pushed onto her because she does not want to disgrace her family (Tan 54). Lindo blindly obliges to her family and the Huang’s wishes by being an obedient wife, but that made the “Huangs almost [wash] their thinking into [her] skin” (56) thus making her think in a certain way that hinders her own opinions and voice. Losing oneself is equivalent to having no personality because personality requires having thoughts that are unique to the individual, and when their unique thoughts are manipulated by someone else, the individual loses their individuality. However, Lindo eventually gains back her individuality by devising a complicated plan that she considers “really quite simple” that …show more content…

From all of the characters and stories within the book, Lindo is among the top characters who embrace American ways while leaving Chinese ideals behind. Lindo takes matters into her own hands and shapes the future that she wants to see with her wit and refusal to stay

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