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The Joy Luck Club Literature Review

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I appreciated the window into an experience that I wouldn't otherwise have in my world; I
sympathized with their stories and struggles; I pulled for their happiness and that of their daughters;
I kept reading dutifully. In 2020, the 1993 film adaptation got inducted into National Film Registry
preservation list by the Library of Congress. Like I mentioned before, we had several timelines and
multiple characters and I'm not gonna lie, I couldn't distinguish who's whom sometimes until I was
well into the book. It's just that most of the time they are tainted or at least touched by the hand of
the West. We’ve made our Chart Boards into beautiful printer-friendly PDFs that can be blown up to
poster size. Some of the voices were totally over the top and sounded cartoonish and listening to this
one became a annoying and I gave up 30% in to the book. I recently read as part of a buddy read The
Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and many of the participants noted that Lahiri's writing is much like
Tan's a generation later. Throughout these meetings, four mothers, four daughters, and four families
stories are interwoven. After reading certain sentences and phrases I stopped and thought dang. See
details for shipping Located in: Winnetka, California, United States Delivery: Varies Returns: Seller
does not accept returns. Descriptive language Tan described things in a unique way She didn’t use a
lot of sensory detail but rather described the feelings of the characters. Rich Bitch: Ying-Ying in her
youth before she was broken by her terrible first marriage. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent
immigrants to San Francisco, meet weekly to play mahjong and tell stories of what they left behind
in China. The mothers' pride and disappointments with their daughters meshed well with the
daughters' respect and frustrations with their mothers; 2. Waverly imagines her mother as this
cunning, manipulative woman who deliberately makes passive-aggressive comments to try to shatter
her confidence and ruin her life. The stuff that rang the most true with me was the angsty rivalry
between Waverly and June; particularly June's meltdown at the piano recital (a consistent paranoia of
mine throughout childhood) and Waverly's accusations toward her mother (a fantasy of mine
growing up). I am to replace my mother, whose seat at the mah jong table has been empty since she
died two months ago. Following her mother's death, June Mei Woo has replaced her mother Suyuan
at her monthly mah jong game. Tan captured the tension and misunderstandings between the mothers
and daughters well. They already know you’re an outsider.” What do you think of this quote. I had a
hard time remembering which daughter went with which mother and which childhood with which
woman. May contain limited notes, underlining or highlighting that does affect the text. To me, this
seems to be almost a Great Book, but with much more relationship and family comedy represented
and without the width of life present in Great Books (the effects of war were strikingly missing or
compressed, as were the more terrible dramas of abuse or starvation). It's implied he was drawn to
her due to her submissiveness, and his ability to push her around. He also gets rich off her ideas for
his company without giving her payment or credit. The theme that struck me the most while reading
the novel was the inter-generational loss that afflicted the characters. Error: Try Again Ok Sell
Watchlist Expand Watch List Loading. No offense, but they aren't exactly the point of the story. This
was my first Amy Tan novel but I will definitely be reading more of her work in future. P.S. -
Gwendoline Yeo does an absolutely fantastic job reading the audiobook version. We ship orders daily
and Customer Service is our top priority.
The narrow view of the story focusing on 'female' aspects of life, as well as, perhaps, the genre
styling, declare this is a Woman's Great Book. Did they deal with the personal issues that
complicated the marriage in the first place. Amy Tan writes all eight characters' viewpoints
sympathetically and I never felt like I was being told which viewpoint was the 'correct' one. In our
house, it is the American mother who went to unite with her daughters in China, then raised Chinese
babies as American girls. There are laughs to be had in everyday misunderstandings. Like I
mentioned before, we had several timelines and multiple characters and I'm not gonna lie, I couldn't
distinguish who's whom sometimes until I was well into the book. The man who was my husband
brought me and our two babies to Kweilin because he thought we would be safe. The theme that
struck me the most while reading the novel was the inter-generational loss that afflicted the
characters. This shocking revelation propels Jing-mei to connect with her heritage and better
understand the sacrifices her mother made. Error: Try Again Ok Sell Watchlist Expand Watch List
Loading. A few months after her mother Suyuan ’s unexpected death, June Woo is asked to take her
mothers seat at a weekly mahjong game that’s been ongoing between four friends for almost forty
years. Our summary will delve into the key events and themes explored in this particular chapter.
Happy Mother's Day! 2023-reads american-west-coast debut-novel.more 160 likes 4 comments Like
Comment Jason Koivu Author 7 books 1,309 followers November 22, 2014 Why read The Joy Luck
Club. It tells the stories of four women who were born in China but were forced to leave due to
various tragic circumstances, and their four daughters who were all born in America. I actually
preferred the mothers' story lines to the daughters' but maybe that's because the past stories
explained so much more than the present story lines. This unit is complete from start to finish,
including prediction activities, two vocabulary units, reading log, study guides, two major writing
assignments, journal prompts, figurative language, creative heritage assignment, interactive Chinese
New Year party, group review project, movie permission slip, and unit test. They scoff at their
mothers for acting too Chinese. The Joy Luck Club has also been compared to Sandra Cisneros’ The
House on Mango Street, for its examination of racial and gender identities across multiple connected
short stories. I also feel like I related to the mothers more than the daughters, which seems contrary
to a lot of people's experience with the book. Most of the acclaim for this book seems to come from
the portrayal of the relationships between the mothers and the daughters; they seem true-to-life but
are repetitive (every daughter lacks respect for her mother and understanding of her Chinese origins;
every mother speaks in vague metaphors and is always right). I was the girl who played piano,
always being forced to practice. I also declared that I would name my two kids after the
aforementioned abandoned children: Spring Flower and Spring Rain. Although I loved music and
was a talented pianist, I quit because I couldn't deal with the pressure anymore. The structure of this
book is very clever, although it might go completely over your head if you're not at least passingly
familiar with mahjong. Suyuan abandoned her two twin daughters in China, but June later found out
they were alive. Possible clean ex-library copy, with their stickers and or stamp(s). Amy Tan isn't a
bad author, and at this point she was probably still learning her limits. Lindo moves to Tyan-yu’s
family’s mansion when she’s twelve and becomes an indentured servant to Tyan-yu’s cruel mother,
Huang Taitai. I do wish we could have spent more time with the characters. Tight binding, no food or
drink stains, no tobacco smell.
I recently read as part of a buddy read The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and many of the participants
noted that Lahiri's writing is much like Tan's a generation later. I had mean to read it just a chapter
or two a day but I ended up with a free afternoon and spent the entire time completely caught up in
what was happening, finishing the book before I'd even realised it. She wound up collapsing from
exhaustion less than a mile down the road, and was rescued by a truck picking up refugees while
passed out. Like I mentioned before, we had several timelines and multiple characters and I'm not
gonna lie, I couldn't distinguish who's whom sometimes until I was well into the book. Many of the
events portrayed are interesting, and you can't help but learn a bit about Chinese culture. Through
sixteen short stories we are able to view major events in their lives that have shaped their mindsets,
their worlds, and their relationships with one another. Jing-Mei, whose American name is June May,
and the daughters of the three other women, seem to be uninterested in their mothers’ heritage and
history. Or maybe she said butong, not the same thing at all. She now lives in New York with her
husband and cat Sagwa. Because, damn it, Amy Tan was a pioneer, a groundbreaker. I didn't think
that was the case at all: all the girls' fathers are sympathetic figures (even the clueless American one),
and two of the three troubled or failed marriages on the part of the younger generation involve
women who are just as much at fault as their (white) husbands. Establishing Character Moment: In
the book, the first sign that Ted is a terrible person is when Rose tells him about his mother's racist
statements and he's angrier at Rose for not standing up for herself than at his mother's racism. More
evident in An-Mei's and Ying-Ying's stories, given how they were raised in wealthy families with
some Western influence. Waverly's full name is Waverly Place Jong after the street they were living
on at the time to give her a sense of belonging so she would never regret anything. Jerk With A Heart
Of Jerk: Rose grows to realize that Ted is self-centered, often blames the brunt of his issues on her,
and ultimately tries to kick her out of her house, expecting her to react well to the news of his
cheating and asking for a divorce. The mothers' pride and disappointments with their daughters
meshed well with the daughters' respect and frustrations with their mothers; 2. The joy luck club
study guide. ?? joy luck club analysis. See details - for more information about returns Payments:
Shop with confidence eBay Money Back Guarantee Get the item you ordered or your money back.
American woman writer; Chinese immigrants ’ posterity; Biographical work: double identity; cultural
difference between mother and daughter. However, once the daughters marry, sometimes twice, they
grow close to their mothers. Like Brother and Sister: Literally, verbatim, Lindo describes her
relationship with her first husband as this. This is played tragically in the case of Canning and
Suyuan Woo just before her death. Part of the vocabulary assignment involves drawing a word-free
picture for each word (assign students a word upon handing out the assignment). One of the mothers
in this novel conveys so much in two short sentences: “For woman is yin,” she cried sadly, “the
darkness within, where untempered passions lie. My mother was supposed to host the next meeting
of the Joy Luck Club. By the time the plate reaches June and Suyuan, only one perfect crab remains.
It might just be because lately I've been considering what it means to be known by another person etc
etc and so that just stood out to me while reading. I love Shakespeare. I love Keats and Byron and
Blake. Audible can make or break a book unfortunately this one didnt work for me as its difficult to
concentrate on the words when the narrator is using cartoonish voices or on some of the characters
and because this is a story where there are many characters and many stories this can become quite
tedious. The fact that none of their daughters chose to marry Chinese men attests to the generation
gap between first and second generation immigrants of any ethnic group.
Through sixteen short stories we are able to view major events in their lives that have shaped their
mindsets, their worlds, and their relationships with one another. Financial Abuse: Lena's husband
Harold does this to her. I had a hard time remembering which daughter went with which mother and
which childhood with which woman. Tight binding, no food or drink stains, no tobacco smell. In
reality, I spent a lot of time looking her up in the old yearbooks at the library, Oak Leaves circa 1970
and 1971 (I think). I love Shakespeare. I love Keats and Byron and Blake. I saw my hearing cousins
have giggly moments with translation peculiarities with their deaf parents; and I also saw their
affection and underlying mutual, sometimes belated, recognition of comedic goings on in
unintentional operatic emotional gestures of misunderstandings in their flying hands. It was an
incredibly popular book about Asian Americans at a time when there was very little representation.
The progression of their relationships actually sounds like a universal one to me. If you've never read
this before, what are you waiting for. My Death Is Just the Beginning: An-Mei's mother, trapped in a
horrific marriage to her rapist, commits suicide by poison, but does so two days before the new year.
It is a well-rounded novel describing the generation gap in the mother-daughter relationship. Possible
clean ex-library copy, with their stickers and or stamp(s). An-mei witnesses the sacrifice, which
redefines her notion of a daughter’s love. This was how my parents met the Hsus, the Jongs, and the
St. Clairs. My mother could sense that the women of these families also had unspeakable tragedies
they had left behind in China and hopes they couldn't begin to express in their fragile English. I did
pick up how much more painful it was for a Chinese mother to love a Chinese daughter in China in
the past. Plot Major themes The Difference of ancient Chinese culture and American Culture
“Chinese people had Chinese opinions, and American People had American Opinions. To my mother
and the memory of her mother A A A You asked me once what I would remember. Author: Amy Tan.
JLC Video Trailer. ”. About the Author. Born in Oakland California Grew up in San Francisco. As
with most things in life, it all comes down to the fact that there are pros and cons to any way of life,
which is one of the reasons this life can be so hard to navigate. Broken Bird: Young An-Mei, and
Lena's mother Ying-Ying. The stuff that rang the most true with me was the angsty rivalry between
Waverly and June; particularly June's meltdown at the piano recital (a consistent paranoia of mine
throughout childhood) and Waverly's accusations toward her mother (a fantasy of mine growing up).
Here, he meets a kind-hearted farmer who provides him with shelter and employment, offering a
fresh perspective on the world and human connections tha. I love Shakespeare. I love Keats and
Byron and Blake. A lovely story of the strong bonds between mothers and daughters. All of the
mothers have basically the same personality; the daughters have a few differences but all talk the
same way and have similar life stories. As per usual, I like to read up on a place before the trip. But
the simple, lively writing, the humor, the great characters, the perfect level of detail—not too much
or too little—was all just as I remembered, and the ending moved me to tears exactly as I'm sure it
did the first time around. Anyways definitely enjoyed this one. 104 likes Like Comment Nicole 780
reviews 2,240 followers September 21, 2021 The Joy Luck Club was an interesting book and
certainly better than I first expected. Later, Suyuan praises June for having such a generous heart
when other people (like Waverly) only think of themselves.
The daughters are all, to some degree, frustrated by their mothers' inability to shake off their
anachronistic Chinese superstitious behavior (as their daughters think of it) and seeming reluctance to
embrace the culture of their new home. They scoff at their mothers for acting too Chinese. I suspect
some of the other reader complaints is based on a perceived lack of respect because of the American
author's reveal of the American daughters' reactions to seeing cuteness and comedy in the oddities of
the mothers teaching moments in translated vernacular. When I first read this novel at age 14 or so, it
really spoke to me. The relationships between the mothers and their respectiive daughters felt
hopeful, but at times, disheartening. My God, What Have I Done?: In the film, Ying's reaction after
she kills her child. Unfortunately, it does change the gap that had been created when the children
shunned their culture in exchange for life as normal Americans. Amy began to dissolve as an enigma
for me, she was just another celebrity, another writer of a book. The other families who joined her-
- the Hsus, Jongs, and St Claires-- became like family as together they celebrated festivals, children's
birthdays, and indoctrinated the next generation in Chinese culture. Amy Tan writes all eight
characters' viewpoints sympathetically and I never felt like I was being told which viewpoint was the
'correct' one. Image: The Joy Luck Club The Joy Luck Club, a place where the four mothers met to
play mahjong and share life stories, becomes Jing-mei's window into the past. I loved how Amy Tan
portrayed those relationships, each was unique which its special hardships and difficulties but also
joys and humor. But Ted was going to be in one of those professions where he would be judged by a
different standard, by patients and other doctors who might not be as understanding as the Jordans
were. Lindo’s ability to shake Waverly’s confidence continues into Waverly’s romantic life when
she’s an adult. Yes, we are making headway, and yes, a larger percentage of the population
understands that WoC are just as fallible and varied and complex and flawed as everyone else, but
there is still so. Much. Progress. To. Be. Made. Is it any wonder that back in 1989 Amy Tan was
made a pariah. The novel explores the cultural divide between the two generations of women and
explores how national identity influences people's lives. Many men, and I guess some women, do
not understand love can be deepened by a daughter's feeling that her mother is a cute, even if spiky,
supportive darling whose cultural oddities will be recalled with deep affection long after the parent is
gone. This was how my parents met the Hsus, the Jongs, and the St. Clairs. My mother could sense
that the women of these families also had unspeakable tragedies they had left behind in China and
hopes they couldn't begin to express in their fragile English. Waverly's full name is Waverly Place
Jong after the street they were living on at the time to give her a sense of belonging so she would
never regret anything. Mothers may be harder on their daughters than on their sons because they
have already made the mistakes, and they know the pitfalls that await their daughters. At the end of
her chapter, she finally confronts her husband. Which put the onus of representing an entire people on
ONE person. I now realize that some of my issues with my mom were probably planted by reading
The Joy Luck Club; others were valid insofar as they existed within the collective repressed thoughts
of first-generation Asian-Americans forced to compete against the highest standards: their parents'. I
surely preferred some daughters over others but all were flawed and well-written. She discovers that
her mother had to abandon them and flee to the United States. This unit can literally be handed to a
first-year teacher or long-term sub with very minimal experience, and will encompass a wide variety
of standards. In the book and in real life Chinese mothers had to learn for themselves and teach their
Chinese daughters in turn to 'eat their pain' from the lack of fulfillment or autonomy in Chinese
culture, even to the point of stopping up natural love and affection by showing only harsh cruelty and
cold dislike towards their daughters, often necessary for the personal survival of both mother and
daughter. As an American-born son raised with traditionally Asian standards, my childhood has been
filled with conflicts resulting in screaming matches and bountiful tears. These mothers had such a
harsh life compared to their American daughters, and the girls never knew until almost too late. I am
really glad that I was able to get the chance to read this book.

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