The Joy Luck Club - 1447 Words

It has been said that America has no single tradition but rather is a melting pot of people from various backgrounds and ethnicities. During the 20th century a new wave of immigration to the United States took place bringing with it a new classification of American. However due to the intimidating cultural and social standards of the United States assimilation was inevitable. In reading Amy Tans thought provoking novel The Joy Luck Club, I am reminded of what has been termed for many decades as the American Dream. Based on the foundations of the Declaration of Independence, this dream entails the idea that we are all, regardless of race or creed, entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Every human has the right and†¦show more content†¦The self is seen as more important than the family as a unit, which is the opposite in Chinese culture. Traditionally they are taught to respect and honor their elders. Old translates to wise in Chinese culture. In American, old translates to incapable and there is no place for them, it is considered to be most undesirable in a culture which emphasizes youth and physical beauty. Tan implies that Americans will result to falsity rather than truth if the circumstance happens to coincide with personal gain or desires. Lindo Jong tells the story of an American soldier who promises to come back and marry the girl who loves him. He says my promise is as good as gold, but he in fact does not come back. She tells her daughter, His gold is like yours, it is only fourteen carats. To Chinese people, fourteen carats isnt real gold. Feel my bracelets. They must be twenty-four carats, pure inside and out (Tan 49). Americans tend to be born with a sense of entitlement or superiority. This idea does not appear to stem from any notion in particular other than the simple fact of being born on US soil. Because of this sentiment, native-born Americans are generally more preoccupied with the materialistic and mundane things presented to them in everyday life. Tan stresses that there is little importance placed on ones overall self worth in relation toShow MoreRelatedSummary Of The Joy Luck Club 853 Words   |  4 PagesExam Project Process Check #1 Book: The Joy Luck Club Author: Amy Tan By: Bala Sundaram Themes: A) The Joy luck Club presents a couple of themes but one of which, relates to an issue that is affecting many immigrant families who bring up their kids in foreign countries. In forwards, the difficulty in speaking and translating another language.The mothers and daughters in the book have difficulty in communicating their ideas and feelings with one another.The problems associated with communicatingRead MoreJoy Luck Club Analysis981 Words   |  4 Pagesas well.† (Tan 213). The Joy Luck club is a book containing sixteen stories told by four mother-daughter pairs, as well as four anecdotes about no particular character. The mothers are all Chinese Immigrants. Each mothers story details their experiences in China, while the daughters talk about life in America. The exception to this is with the Woo family, where the mother, Suyuan, has passed away, and the daughter, June, tells her stories for her. In ‘The Joy Luck Club’, Amy Tan uses the storiesRead MoreJoy Luck Club Essay1722 Words   |  7 PagesIn the novel, Joy Luck Club, we see Waverly Jong and June Woo’s competitiveness when Waverly becomes a child chess prodigy and June struggles to master the piano. This rivalry reflects how success and worth are depicted in this novel. A mother’s success would be encouraging or coercing their child to master a particular hobby and to improve constantly. A daughter’s worth would be determined by the daughter’s talents, and whether or not the daughter brings a good reputation for the family. We canRead MoreThe Joy Luck Club Characterization1301 Words   |  6 Pages Characterization is a widely-used literary tool in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. Specifically, each mother and daughter is a round character that undergoes change throughout the novel. Characterization is important in the novel because it directly supports the central theme of the mother-daughter relationship, which was relevant in Tan’s life. T an grew up with an immigrant mother, and Tan expresses the difficulties in communication and culture in the stories in her book. All mothers in the book areRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Joy Luck Club 937 Words   |  4 Pagesup together. Towards the end of the novel, a gathered opinion can be made on the three characters true to all the viewpoints. The Joy Luck Club is a movie, based off a novel written by Amy Tan, displaying the struggles of a group of Chinese women and their daughters. The women grew like a family when they moved from China to San Francisco. The woman in the joy luck club all experienced rape, domestic violence or being abandoned by their family early in adulthood. Christina, Ida and Suyuan all liveRead MoreThe Joy Luck Club Is The Power Of Storytelling1054 Words   |  5 PagesA recurring theme in The Joy Luck Club is the power of storytelling. Throughout the book, stories are used as a way to socialize, teach lessons and warn about dangers. The article à ¢â‚¬Å"The Psychological Power of Storytelling† by Pamela B. Rutledge explains how stories are a form of communication. Rutledge says, â€Å"Stories have always been a primal form of communication.† From cavemen drawing pictures of stories on walls, to bedtime stories being read to children, sharing experiences through storiesRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Joy Luck Club 1700 Words   |  7 PagesChurchill English 2 Honors, Period 0 6 September 2015 Reconciliation Swan feathers. Hopes and dreams. Broken relationships and healing. Though these concepts might initially appear incongruous, they are all depicted in the book The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan and The Joy Luck Club film directed by Wayne Wang. Both modes of interpretation show how the mothers help their daughters solve their problems by explaining the formers’ pasts. However, while the book leaves each of the daughters’ stories open endedRead MoreThe Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan841 Words   |  3 PagesIn the Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, tells stories of four Chinese mothers and four Chinese-American daughters and their mother-daughter relationship. The four mothers met in a San Francisco church in 1949. Suyuan Woo, founder of the Joy Luck Club, convinced the other mothers An-Mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Yingying St. Clair to join the club. The club would meet every week at one of the mother’s house where they eat food, play mahjong, and brag about their daughters. The Chinese -American daughters tellRead MoreThe Joy Luck Club : Breaking Barriers1075 Words   |  5 PagesGrace Pating Mr. Devine English 203H 8 September 2015 The Joy Luck Club: Breaking Barriers When people struggle to communicate with one another or disagree, the usual response is to ask questions and make an effort to fix the issue. Unfortunately, owning up to responsibility can be much more difficult when the argument is with a close friend or family member. Coming from two time periods, this is a prevalent issue for the women of the Woo family, especially since both individuals are intolerablyRead MoreThe Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan963 Words   |  4 PagesThe novel The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan shows the past and present experiences of several women including An-mei Hsu, the mother of Rose Hsu Jordan. Beginning at a young age, An-mei has to endure many situations. Her grandmother tells her that her mother is a ghost but she comes back to take care of her grandmother when she is ill. Due to the absence of her mother during her childhood years, she tries to be there for Rose as much as possible but is pushed away. An-mei believes she has nengkin, the