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The Joy Luck Club Cultural Analysis

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Imaging living with someone who has totally different language background and raising environment? In The Joy Luck Club, the author Amy Tan uses first point of view to explore the lives of four Chinese immigrant mothers and their four Chinese-American daughters. In the book, four traditional Chinese mothers move to the USA due to different reasons and form a Joy Luck Club, and each person represents one corner of the mahjong table. Thus, the inclusive is depicted by Amy Tan in the novel in form of the conflict, cultural difference, as well as the symbol; ultimately, it helps to show that the multicultural bond families are stronger than the inclusive families.
First of all, conflicts, mainly between mothers and daughters which provoke absence …show more content…

My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel they need to sulk for anything.” (Amy 143) This illustrates that Suyuan instills the concept of anyone can be anything if they work hard into Jing-mei, pushes her to success in different areas; however, after Jing-mei fails those prizes and contests, she feels inadequate because she thinks she never succeeded and never meet her mother’s expectation. Anger and misunderstanding grows in Jing-mei’s heart, she complains why her mom so obsessed with asking her to become a genius, whereas, Suyuan never intends Jing-mei become a genius but have a better life. Confusion also exists between mothers and daughters in the novel, primarily shown between Waverly and Lindo. As a child, Lindo teaches Waverly the “art of invisible strength,” Waverly thinks that means stay quiet and act innocent which leaves her competitor a laxly attitude. After Waverly become a prodigy in chess, as she wins more chess champions, and chess tournaments, her mom- Lindo bragging to people, and Waverly thinks her mom has no right to show off her “reputations”, she starts acting against her mom in order to show her anger, while Lindo on the other hand believes Waverly is just showing she is unsatisfied with her …show more content…

The swan feather appears at the first part of story that an old lady left a swa feather to her daughter. Suyuan affirms, “This feather may look worthless, but it comes from afar and carries with it all my good intentions.” (I Prologue.4) The swan feather represents all the best wishes and hope for her daughter have a good future. This results in the high expectation of Suyuan to her daughter, and also foreshadows the sadness of mothers when they feel their hope will end at the next generation. Moreover, Suyuan gives the green jade pendant as a gift to Jing-mei once Jing-mei has inferiority feeling. Jing-mei meets another guy wearing a similar jade pendant with hers, he states “[my mom] gave it to me after I got divorced. I guess my mother [is] telling me I [am] still worth something.’ (-----) This indicates that the green pendant symbolizes Jing-mei’s self-value, shows that Suyuan wants her daughter to know just like the jade has a light colour now, Jing-mei is young and have a sense of inferiority, but if she wear the jade everyday, it will become green which refers to Jing mei that if she work hard and recognize her own value, she will improve with time as well. Lastly, a Chinese book called Twenty-Six Malignant Gate narrates a story that a mother tells her daughter do not ride bike around the corner "The daughter

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Tan’s narrative style involves giving the symbols and allusions in all her novels. She emphasizes the symbols such as food, dreams, orchids, silence, ink, fate and paintings to carry the weightage of the themes in all her novels. In case of The Joy Luck Club, the symbols and allusions are interwoven with food, dreams and Chinese language. Through these devices, Tan explores the layers of palimpsest that is her text, her narrative of the immigrant experience in America, her exploration of the bond between mother and daughter. A crucially important symbol in the novel is the Joy luck Club with its mah-jong table as a center piece that links past and present and codifies place and identity for club members.

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This disagreement quickly became a source of resentment and anger for both of them, but Jing-Mei and her mother were unable to resolve this conflict because of their different backgrounds and experiences. The story showcases how relationships between mothers and daughters can be strained because of differences in culture and a lack of communication. One of the difficulties between Jing-Mei and her mother is their different cultural backgrounds, which is supported by two points from the story. Firstly, Jing-Mei and her mother both disagreed on the opportunities that existed in America. According to Singer, Amy Tan uses “two entirely

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Regardless, her mother still is persistent on Jing Mei becoming a prodigy, despite her passionless performance and her family’s negative reaction. In return, Jing Mei becomes angry at her mother, and will do anything to change her mind. Screaming, “I wish I were dead! Like them.”, her mother freezes, disappointed in her daughter, and quits Jing Mei’s piano classes. On Page 28-29, Jing Mei’s perspective on the world becomes more apparent: “For unlike my mother, I didn’t believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me.”

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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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Suyuan’s dream for her daughter was for her to become a prodigy, in hopes for a better future. The mother believed “ you could be anything you wanted to be in America” (Amy Tan). Her mother had come to America after losing everything in China, and hard times lied ahead for herself and her daughter, The daughter and mother set out to pursue the dream together in hopes of a better life. Her mother first thought Jing Mei could be a “chinese shirley temple”, in which they would “watch Shirley’s old movies on TV as though they were training films” (Amy Tan). The idea of becoming something greater than herself at first encouraged Jing Mei to practice her Mother’s ideas.

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Throughout the story, Jing-mei’s feeling toward her mother change in critical ways. As a young child, Jing-mei wants constant attention from her mother, going so far as agreeing to become a child prodigy. In the story, Jing-mei commented, “In fact, in the beginning, I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so” (Tan 221). This was before her mother becomes highly adamant about wanting her child to become a prodigy. As time went on, she wanted Jing-mei to become the epitome of a child star.

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Through analyzing the stories about their lives’ hardships and experiences, it is revealed that Suyuan’s American Dream is achieved by Jing-mei by going back to her own country, retrieving her two sisters, and makes the family whole again. The story of Suyuan and Jing-mei chasing their American Dream teaches us a lesson: Never gives up your dreams casually. One day, you will be thankful for your persistence, when the dream comes

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However, this determination sometimes appears to be obsessive to the point of running her daughter’s life for her. Regardless, she is only trying to help, as she encourages Jing Mei by asserting “‘You can be best anything.’” (1). Because of this, it suggests that although she is very harsh on her daughter at times, it is only to make sure that Jing Mei can use her full potential and not end up losing everything like her

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“For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me.” (Tan 24). With this statement you can see that she does not agree with her mother. Jing-Mei’s Mother was raised in Chinese culture, therefore she is very strict and demanding to Jing-Mei to do what she wants. From doing a chore, to hobbies or even Jing-Mei’s passion.

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