Prejudice And Symbolism In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

There has always been a language barrier between An Mei and her daughter Rose Hsu. These two women have very different view on how life should be handled. In the Joy Luck Club, An Mei is trying to help her daughter Rose, who is currently going through a divorce. An Mei wants her daughter to save the marriage but she knows that it is completely pointless to do so. She understands that she needs to stick up for herself, and she does by getting a lawyer, and fight for the house she once lived in. Rose does not believe that her marriage is worth the constant miscommunication and one not understanding one another. Rose only wants the house, and An Mei wants to save the marriage because in Chinese tradition, that would be the only way to keep the

When they lived with their grandparents they had many restrictions that they were not used to. They were not able to talk about their mom. A couple months pass and they have forgotten about who their mom was. Popo becomes very ill and An Mei’s mother returns home to take care of her. Ancient Chinese tradition states that if one of your family is very ill and has a small chance of returning to a healthy state, that the healthy flesh of one of the family members must be consumed in order to become healthy again. Therefore, An Mei cuts a piece of flesh off of her arm and puts it in soup for Popo to eat. “Here is how I came to love me mother. How I saw my own true nature. What was beneath my skin. Inside my bones” (p.40) At this point in the story, An Mei is recognized for her courage and her honor for attempting to save a family member by sacrificing her own skin and bone. Her daughter recognized how much she loved her family and what lengths she would be willing to go for her. “The pain you must forget, because sometimes that is the only way to remember your bones.” (p41) An Mei had a very difficult childhood, but in return taught her many good lessons about how life can change at any time and the most unsuspecting events can occur at any

Opposing from An Mei, her daughter, Rose, had a completely different view upon the world and how she wanted to live her life. An Mei was born in china, whereas her daughter was born in the United States where she has been used to the American culture. She also has no interest in the Chinese culture or traditions as her mother. I believe that An Mei is upset that her daughter doesn’t follow in the footsteps as her mother, but Rose is so “gung-ho” about what she wants that she doesn’t even consider her families past. “This is not hope, not reason. This is your fate. This is your life, what you must do” (p134) When Rose was a young girl, her family took a vacation to the beach, and her being the oldest she was responsible for watching her younger sibling Bing. He had walked down a reef when her other brothers started to argue and then lead to a fight. As Rose was breaking up the scuffle, Bing had fallen into the reef and disappeared without any remains of his person. Her family notified the proper authorities and searched around the ocean for hours but never had the opportunity to trace him. The following day, the family rushed back to the ocean to ask if they had any clues or had found Bing. The authorities were not successful of finding any traces of