Group member names: Viviana, Matthew, Elijah, Lauren

The Joy Luck Club:

Chapter 8 House Competition

Directions: The first team to correctly complete the analysis questions and present them to Mr.
Smith will be awarded 25 points for their House! However, any communication between house
sub-teams will result in a loss of 25 points!

1. Discuss how American children are depicted in contrast with the expectations of Chinese
parents. Identify three specific characteristics of these first-generation youths and provide a
direct quote for each.
A. The children of Chinese parents believed firmly in creating obedient kids Jing-Mei’s
responses to her mother force presents she was not the “kind of daughter [she] wanted her to be
the perfect, obedient daughter she wanted “ Jing-Mei went against the cultural standards and was
a disobedient child (142).

B. Chinese children were raised to achieve great things under their strict parents and maintain the
family’s honor by being great in some way Waverly was one of the Chinese girls who were super
smart. After Jing-Mei loses the talent show and is seeing the other parents from the Joy luck club
Waverly judged Jing-Mei saying “You aren’t a genius like me” the parents of Waverly had raised
her to be extremely smart and therefore she believed she was above Jing-Meis failure (140).

C. Jing-Mei was one Chinese girl who went against the cultural expectations of obedience and
honor she lived her life in the way she wanted. She disrespected her parents and did not strive to
be the best version of herself. There was her true nature which was obedient than the side her
mother wanted her to be a perfect successful Chinese girl. JIng-Meii looks at herself in the
mirror and saw the fake side of her “the girl staring back at [her] was angry, powerful” she
accepted the fact that she was perfect and wanted to separate herself from the cultural
expectations of her mother and personifies her reflection as a separate person (134).

2. Examine the symbolic meaning of the piano, using at least two direct quotes for support.
In the chapter, the piano represents Jing-Mei’s inner struggle and potential for greatness. While
she claims to hate playing because of the expectations that are set by her mother, she also
describes it as “beautiful” and “envision[s] people jumping to their feet” at the sound of her
playing (150). When this dream isn’t fulfilled, she immediately feels the “shame” that is brought
on by her previous refusal to dedicate herself to playing correctly to simply spite her mother
(151). By the end, Jing-Mei realizes that her stubbornness to fail only harms her and the ones she
loves which are rooted in her own low self-esteem of “not believ[ing] [she] could be anything
[she] wanted” (154). She overcomes this self-doubt when she finally starts to play again and is
surprised at how naturally talented she is, just like her mother had told her all those years ago.

Throughout the story so far there is the motif of balance and how it relates to the Chinese
concept of yin and yang, In this chapter, the piano, and its two mentioned songs “Perfectly
Contented” and “Pleading Child” represent the balance between Jing-Mei and her mother. The
choice of the piano as an instrument is incredibly important to its symbolism. The keys A-G are
white, while the sharp and flat keys are black which are the two colors of yin and yang.
Furthermore, the song titles also represent balance in their names. Jing-Mei is the “Pleading
Child” while her mother is “Perfectly contented”. Suyuan and Jing-Mei are the two sides of yin
yang which are both needed to retain balance, however, in truth they are the same. Just like the
songs “Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented”. In this way, the piano is the physical
embodiment of yin and yang.

3. There are SEVEN allusions throughout the chapter! Find, define, and briefly explain the
significance at least FIVE of them--this may take some research on your part!
A. Shirley Temple- she was a very famous actress in the 1930s and can be characterized as the
perfect American girl. Jing-Mei’s mother uses Shirley Temple as the way her daughter should be
showing how this American girl is the standard that is glorified by immigrants on how their
children should be.
B. Cinderella- resembled all things gentle and ladylike; she represented the ideals of feminity
that Suyuan wanted to push onto her daughter. Cinderella also refers to the classic tale of rags to
riches, which could refer to the type of storybook life that Suyuan wants for Jing-mei; she is
hopeful she will find her happy ending through her attempts.
C. Peter Pan- is a lost child incapable of growing up; this could refer to Jing-mei’s stubbornness
in her childhood in trying to grow up to be what her mother expects of her. She is lost in a culture
not of her own and unable to find her place. This could also reflect Suyuan trying to have
Jing-mei adapt and assimilate into the American culture by conforming to an American
hairstyle/look.
D. Madama Butterfly- could refer to both cultural assimilations presented in the chapter, as well
as the relationship between Jing-mei and Suyuan. This opera presented the story of a Japanese
woman who tried to fit into American society by marrying and falling in love with a deceitful
American man. She is, in the end, greatly disappointed by betrayal and her assimilation is in
vain. This could refer to Suyuan’s attempts to help Jing-mei conform to the expectations of
Chinese-Americans and being disappointed. It could also be paralleling Jing-mei to the deceitful,
American husband and Suyuan to the hopeful, Asain woman. Jing-mei, like the husband, is
careless towards the efforts and dreams of her mother and leaves her completely lost and alone,
deprived of her previously unbreakable spirit.
E. Ripley’s Believe It or Not- Jing-Mei’s mother was reading this magazine which is a franchise
that comes out with bizarre and crazy stories that many people would find untrue. The stories are
so outrageous that it’s questionable that they are even real. Her mother is trying to turn Jing-Mei
into a prodigy similar to the ones seen in the story but these stories are most likely fake creating
a false pretense that Jing-Mei would never live up to.

4. Discuss the overall meaning of the chapter title, Two Kinds, and how it generates a main idea
for the reader. Select the two best quotes from the chapter in support of your response.
“‘Only two kinds of daughters,’ she shouted in Chinese. ‘Those who are obedient and those who
follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!’”
(Tan 153)
“‘Pleading Child’ was shorter but slower; ‘Perfectly Contented’ was longer, but faster. And after
I played both of them a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song” (Tan 156)

The chapter title, Two Kinds, refers to the struggle that Jing-mei faces in trying to balance the
two kinds of an individual she could be. Her mother has always influenced her to become a sort
of prodigy, or at least try as hard as a prodigy would, while Jing-mei has tried to do that exact
opposite of this and put effort into being ordinary. Suyuan describes this divide as “two kinds of
daughters”: “Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind” (Tan 153). Suyuan
forces this belief and upon Jing-mei and pushes her towards becoming the former. In a fit of rage
and defiance, Jing-mei decides to become the latter as a means to spite her mother’s askings of
her. However, in doing so, she insults her mother and causes Suyuan to lose hope in Jing-mei.
This loss of her mother’s hope was later followed by Suyuan’s death; Jing-mei’s losing her
mother would help her to understand how to find the balance she sought for most of her life.
After playing the piano she had neglected for so long, marking the forgiveness of her mother,
Jing-mei pieced together two works: the “Pleading Child”, which was “shorter, but slower” and
“Perfectly Contented”, which was “longer, but faster” (Tan 156). The first song is representative
of Jing-mei’s youth, where she was more restless and displeased with what she was expected to
do and be (her youth being a shorter amount of time, but feeling much slower than adulthood);
the second song is signifying her adulthood, where after the incident with her mother had finally
been put to rest, she is finally content and more understanding of her own potential and
capabilities (lasting longer but feeling faster now that she is content). She realizes the melodies
were “two halves of the same song” (Tan 156). This revelation is resemblant of her finally
understanding that she was capable of being both of the two kinds of person all along; she could
have been obedient and understanding of her mother’s good intentions and belief in her daughter,
as well as follow her own mind and accept her capabilities and put effort into herself.

5. In a formal statement, identify a main theme of the chapter, providing two direct quotes and
brief analysis in support of your statement. *It must be different from your response to question
four!

Amy Tan uses the relationship between Suyuan and Jing-Mei to examine the mother-daughter
relationships between traditional Chinese mothers and their americanized daughters to exemplify
how Chinese parental expectations do not always easily align with American ideals.

1) “I failed her so many times, each time asserting my own will, my right to fall short of
expectations” (154)
2) “I didn’t budge. And then I decided. I didn’t have to do what my mother said anymore. I
wasn’t her slave. This wasn’t China. I had listened to her before and look what happened.
She was the stupid one”

These two passages both reflect Jing-Mei’s very americanized notion that she is her own person
and that both her successes and failures are her own. This is in direct opposition to her mother’s
traditional Chinese belief that her daughter’s successes or failures reflect directly back upon her
as a mother.
6. Make a pertinent connection to the opening vignette (the one with the young daughter on the
bicycle) with at least three of the four chapters in this section. These examples can be simply
paraphrased, though the connections must be clearly apparent.
A. Jing-Mei Woo’s mother has cultural values that she firmly believes in and forces upon her
daughter without any explanations seen through her persistence in trying to make her daughter
the Chinese Shirley temple. The mother of the girl riding the bike proclaims there are twenty-six
bad things that could happen while out of the house and the daughter questions however the
mother explains it is written in Chinese so the girl would not understand just as Suyuans cultural
expectations of her daughter being a great prodigy singer are unexplained.

B. Within Chinese culture the children are expected to listen and be highly obedient without
questioning, therefore many of the elders worked with no explanation. The mother of the girl
riding the bike proclaimed there are twenty-six dangers of leaving the house however gives no
explanation the girl begs for an answer yet the mother sits in silence similar to the way Suyan
signed Jing-Mei up to learn the piano without consulting her.

C. The girl on the bike disobeyed her mother and began to foolishly ride away from the house
then she crashed before she could even turn the corner. In the chapter, Jing-Mei explained after
her failure with the piano she had failed her parents many times afterward due to her
disobedience from her parents.