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The Joy Luck Club Essay

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In The Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan directed by Wayne Wang, it shows people who have sacrificed their soul to gain something. In Doctor Faustus, Doctor Faustus sold his soul to the devil to gain a servant to do all his need and wants at the end Doctor Faustus has second thoughts about selling his soul to the devil and does not want sell it, but the deal was already made and the devil collected his soul. In American Born Chinese wrote by Gene Yang we see Jin come from china to America, as a new student at his school all he wants is to fit in. People at school soon start to bully him for being Chinese. Then another immigrant comes to Jin’s school named Wei Chen at first Jin did not want to be friends with Wei Chen, overtime Jin and Wei Chen …show more content…

Jin thought he wanted to be one of the popular kids and fit in with all the boys, but he wanted to give up his culture for this. Jin did not want to be chinese because he thought that people would make fun of him because of his skin color. All the way through the book all Jin really wanted was to love himself. Jin did not realize this until he was already in a white boy form named Danny, Danny was visited by a cousin named Chen-Kee. Chen-Kee was really the Monkey King undercover he was sent by Tze-Yo-Tzuh who is a God. The Monkey King is a monkey that was made fun of at a dinner party of the Gods because he did not wear shoes. He started to change himself to get back at the gods and show that he was better than them. He was punished by having a mountain created over him. He finally accepted himself after 500 years under the mountain. Chen-Kee was all the Chinese stereotypes in one character Danny was very annoyed by Chen-Kee because Jin became Danny to get away from Chinese stereotypes. Danny get so annoyed and angry at Chen-Kee for destroying the life Danny / Jin made for himself he starts to fight Chen-Kee the fights by the end of the fight he punches the costume off of Chen-kee. The Monkey King shows himself and gives Danny / Jin wise words and teaches him that the most important thing is to accept yourself. Once the Monkey King told him this Danny / Jin transformed back into Jin. Gene Yang suggest throughout the book the importance of accepting and loving yourself he suggest to us that you can escape yourself but the cost of your soul is too much to give. Through Jin’s life he learned that you accepting yourself and loving yourself is much better than giving up your soul to become something that is not

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On page 206-214, when Chin Kee and Danny were fighting they revealed at the end of the fight was Monkey King and Jin. This made the reader question through the whole book who is who? When Jin turned into Danny this made me wonder if Chin Kee was his actual cousin. But them When the reader saw when Chin Kee head came off his head and it was actually the Monkey King. The Monkey king said to Jin that he was watching over him as his conscience and to see his son Wei Chin.

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Everyone struggles at some point with how they want to be seen in the world. In the novel American Born Chinese written by Gene Leun Yang develops a fictional story with Jin Wang as the main Character. Jin struggles with his identity after moving from Chinatown to the suburbs. As a result of the American and Chinese cultures colliding, Jin Wang undergoes both physical and internal changes because he wants to fit in with everyone else. One type of change Jin Wang made after colliding with American culture is internal changes.

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The Era of Good Feelings, beginning in 1816 with the election of James Monroe as president, directly followed the War of 1812, was a time of nationalism, hope and and confidence in the United States. However, in the shadow of this national pride, different areas of the country began to shift apart in different ways, opening the door to domestic tension. The Era of Good Feeling was both a time of economic growth and political change for the country. This was caused by a surge in nationalistic feelings throughout the United States, as well as growing sectional tensions. The War of 1812 made the American people feel as though they should be aggressive in foreign affairs,which led to the introduction of a protective tariff and the Monroe Doctrine.

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One of the stories we follow is about Jin, a Chinese American boy that changes his appearance and attitude throughout his

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In the novel “American Born Chinese” by Gene Luen Yang (2006), it talks about three different people’s stories. The author starts off with telling a story about a monkey called the Monkey King, who lives in the jungle, seeking for higher power to become considered a god in the book. The author also tells a story about an American born Chinese boy named Jin Wang, who moves from San Francisco and struggles with fitting in at a new school. The last story the author tells is about a boy named Danny who has his cousin Chin-Kee from China visit every year. Danny ends up struggling to keep his reputation in adequate shape at school after his cousin visits causing him to switch schools often.

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Have you ever been in a situation where you have to choose a decision? Do you have to pick one or the other or can you accept both? American Born Chinese by Gene Yang is about a boy named Jin Wang who moves to a white culture school and he is discriminated against for being Chinese. He then makes a choice to abandon his Chinese culture and try to be all American. Because of Jin Wang's interaction with the American culture, he becomes embarrassed about his culture and changes throughout the novel to try and fit in the American culture, as a result he has to figure out his identity and what to do being stuck in between both cultures.

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Wei-Chen also aided Jin by preserving his connection to his roots. Trying to help him remember who he is and where he came from was a common situation that Wei-Chen found himself in. Accomplishing this was done by sticking by Jin and talking about where he said he came from, such as where he tells Jin that “In Taiwan, any boy who loves girls before he is eighteen, everybody laugh at him” (Yang 89), even despite Jin’s rejection of non-American cultures. Wei-Chen tried to teach Jin that it is and exceptional act to be himself and approve of his own origin, which Jin is successful in later on due to Wei-Chen’s

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Throughout all three books read over the summer, there is a consistent theme of struggle but also being able to confront your problems makes the struggle less of a struggle. In The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, the narratives switch back and forth between 3 mothers and 4 daughters. The book conveys a theme of struggle by forming new lives in America from China but now facing more problems within their families and with themselves. In Handle With Care by Jodi Piccoult it follows the lives of the O’Keefes and their struggles derived from their daughter having osteogenesis imperfecta, or OI, for short. Each family member faces problems with its center in miscommunication, having a child with a disability, and avoiding confrontation.

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of his and Lena’s marriage. Lena sees her marriage failing but does nothing about it, just as she knew the table would fall and shatter the vase. Jewelry ~ Jewelry symbolizes the bond between mother and daughter in The Joy Luck Club.

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The key to happiness has caused many controversial arguments. It is such a vague idea that many people have their own straightforward examples. People have their own definition for it and it is most likely, based off of their lifestyle and their beliefs system. In “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan, happiness is constantly questioned if you look in between the character’s life stories and their obstacles, but from what I could gather, their is a concept to it. The concept is “happiness is what you make it to be”.

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The Power of Identity Despite varying circumstances, both visually and contextually, the theme portraying that extreme measures are often taken when others are not accepting of an identity is developed by actions in American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. In the beginning of the book, The Monkey King is more or less serene and collected. At first the book shows some scenes on pages 10 and 11, where he is training peaceful, simple disciplines, and as stated on page 10, “The monkey king ruled with a firm but gentle hand.”

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Bi, Zijian Thu. 3/5/2015 English 2B Ms. Freeland 2° WHEN THE DREAM COMES TRUE What is your American Dream? “The Joy Luck Club”, a novel by Amy Tan, talks about how four mother-daughter pairs have fulfilled their American Dreams. Suyuan and Jing-mei was one of the mother-daughter pair who wants to fulfill their dreams in America.

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Most of the other characters see Jin as a typical American and do not really care that he is Asian. Wei-Chen, on the other hand, had seen Jin as his hero and only friend. He was loyal to Jin even risking to lie to Jin’s mother when Wei-Chen was told not to by his father, the Monkey King. Jin on the other hand, sees himself as an F.O.B. (fresh off the boat) and only wants to be like everyone else by becoming a wannabe-white boy. When Danny/Jin finds out who Chin-kee really is, he reverts to looking like Jin and hears the Monkey King’s plea to apologize to Wei-Chen which resolves the two’s friendship once more.

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In American Born Chinese, Jin Wang changes immensely from the beginning to the end of the story. At the beginning of the story, Jin Wang wants to fit in and break apart from his Chinese Heritage. By the end of the story, because of various external and internal conflicts, Jin has learned to accept his Chinese heritage. He has also experienced anger, happiness, regret, and guilt that all got him to the point where he learned to accept his heritage.

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