The Joy Luck Club

In her The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan presents stories of four mothers and four daughters. The stories span several decades and bring together elements of Chinese and modern American culture. The depictions of mother/daughter interactions and relationships, tied together with elements of Chinese mysticism and cultural mores, are immediately engaging because we get to look into the deeper meanings of each mother/daughter relationship. In other words, Tan in interested in the deep symbolic and mystical realities of each relationship. Tan believes that the mother-daughter relationships are tested, but ultimately healed, by an acceptance of a natural, mystical force which is tied up in the Chinese identity.

While the daughters' stories usually involve their mothers, the mothers' stories tend to feature a distinct life, involving rigid family experiences in old China. The mothers have lived in two cultures, but their daughters know only America. As a result of this bicultural heritage, the mothers have a depth of understanding--a surplus of perspective--to convey to their daughters, whether the daughters are willing to accept it or not. In many cases, the daughters are not able to see through a present reality to arrive at the true significance, or deeper mystical meaning, of a situation. They are at a disadvantage of experience and understanding, and their mothers attempt to fill the void.

The major problem for the older generation has been the struggle against fate, whe

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this, however. She is merely musing on the possibility. What else could explain her daughter's behavior, despite her best intentions? In Rose's defense, she faces decisions that traditional Chinese women did not have to make. However, if Rose makes a mistake in marriage, she has only herself, and not luck, to blame. On the other hand, she will never be tested by a culturally-decided marriage. In her mother's China, a woman was expected to behave silently with submission, but act heroically with strength. The Chinese mothers are bound to their daughters with a psychic intensity. Just as An-mei was always metaphorically alongside Rose, as a tree is guided by straightening wires, Lindo Jong believes that her daughter Waverly should "listen to [her] mother's mind" (289). When Lindo and Waverly are having coffee together, Lindo urges her daughter to finish drinking her coffee, lest she throw her blessings away. Instead, Waverly defiantly throws her coffee down the sink. When Waverly tells her mother that she [Waverly] is her own person, Lindo thinks, "How can she be her own person?" When did I give her up?" (290) Earlier, Lindo Jong regrets the fact that Waverly is blocking out her advice: "I couldn't teach her about

Category: Literature - T