Aguilar 1

Priscilla Aguilar

Mr. Smith

English IB HL 1

12 February 2021

Out the Shadows

In her brilliant novel, The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan utilizes the symbol of shadows to

demonstrate the loss of identity within a child that is deprived of gratification. As a child, Ying

Ying possessed a “presumptuous behavior” that her Amah and mother constantly considered

improper, as girls should “stand still” (Tan 70, 73). After accepting their advice about

diminishing her spirited demeanor and, instead, establishing a subduing behavior, she

consequently encounters her shadow. Ying Ying “shriek[s] with delight” at her shadow’s

“cleverness,” which initiates a profound love for it as it has the same “restless nature” (Tan 71).

Through her shadow, Ying Ying can express her adventurous and restless behavior candidly as it

is not restricted by her Amah. While at the lake with her family, she wistfully falls into the water

and hastily realizes that her shadow is shorter, “shrunken, and wild-looking” (Tan 80). Initially,

Tan portrays her shadow as being shorter and wild because of the separation between Ying Ying

and her identity, along with her distressed emotional state. Ying Ying is ultimately torn between

having to accept Amah's judgment, which will lead to approval by her family or continuing

having her free and courageous behavior, resulting in seclusion. In the beginning, before her

story, Ying Ying reveals that she has kept her “true nature hidden” like a “small shadow” so that

nobody could capture her (Tan 64). She acknowledges that, after the incident, her shadow
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dwindles and she is never the same audacious girl. Thus, Amy Tan exhibits that an individual

will obscure their true nature and identity to be accepted by others.