Analysis Of Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club - 1250 Words

The Joy Luck Club is Amy Tan’s first novel that is a tribute to several generations and different cultural connections. Tan has written: â€Å"To my mother / and the memory of her other / You asked me once / what I would remember. / This, and much more.† The Joy Luck Club is set primarily in modern- day San Francisco’s popular Chinatown, but much of the book occurs in flashbacks of the mothers’ lives in China. While and after reading this book, you can ask yourself many questions that could spark up an evolving conversation like for example, â€Å"Throughout The Joy Luck Club, characters think and communicate using stories. Why might they choose to stories instead of direct statements?† This question is a great conversation starter about the book in†¦show more content†¦Ying-ying hopes to make her daughter understand and feel the fear she experienced in a way that the direct render of her past that she might not allow her to do. Ying-ying i s a source of life lessons throughout this book, but especially during this part of the story: â€Å"I was six when my mother taught me the art of invisible strength. It was a strategy for winning arguments, respect from other, and eventually though neither of us knew it at the time, chess games.† (II.1.1) Something that I will most definitely take away from this book is the power of storytelling. Because the walls between the Chinese and the American cultures are inflamed by imperfect translations of language, the mothers use storytelling to evade these barriers and communicate with their daughters. The stories they tell are often educational, warning against certain mistakes or giving advice based on past success. For example, Ying-ying’s decision to tell her daughter, Lena, about her past is to motivate desire to warn Lena against the disregard and resignation that Ying-ying suffered. Storytelling is a great way to communicate message of love and pride, and to illuminate one’s inner self for others. Another good use of storytelling this novel concerns historical legacy. By telling their daughters about their family histories, the mothers are rest assured that theirShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club1369 Words   |  6 PagesA Perspective of the Amer ican Dream The Joy Luck Club Was written by 1989 by Amy Tan, a first generation American born in 1952 to immigrant parents. Tan was raised by her mother, who had left kids back in China, and a father, who was a Baptist minister. She grew up in California and attended high school in Switzerland. At the age of 15 her brother and father died of a brain tumor. 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He talks about the strange phenomena where Chinese-Americans were bound to China by heritage, but they hadRead More Mother and Daughter Similarities in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club1955 Words   |  8 PagesMother and Daughter Similarities in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club â€Å"Here is how I came to love my mother.   How I saw her my own true nature.   What was beneath my skin.   Inside my bones.† (Tan 40)   Ã‚  Ã‚   The complexitities of any mother-daughter relationship go much deeper then just their physical features that resemble one another.   In Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club, the stories of eight Chinese women are told.   Together this group of women forms four sets of mother and daughter pairs. TheRead More Power of the Mother and Daughter Relationship Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club1482 Words   |  6 PagesPower of the Mother and Daughter Relationship Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club In the novel, The Joy Luck Club, the author, Amy Tan, intricately weaves together the roles and experiences of Chinese mothers with their American born daughters. During a time of war, the mothers flee from China to America, leaving behind a past filled with secrets that unravel as their daughters mature. While sharing their difficulties, these mothers must be able to teach Chinese beliefs and customs to their daughters inRead MoreThe Eight Heroes in The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan703 Words   |  3 PagesIn the novel The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, four Chinese mother-daughter pairs, each with her own unique story, have deep connections with each other. At the beginning of the novel they each seem like ordinary women, but as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that these women are more than just mothers, daughters, or wives; they can also be considered heroes according to Joseph Campbell. Joseph Campbell says a hero is someone who undergoes a departure, where the person is confronted with a problemRead MoreCritical Analysis of Mother Tongue Essay907 Words   |  4 PagesBeverly Williamson English 111 September 21st, 2012 Critical Analysis Essay I have chosen â€Å"Mother Tongue† for the subject of my essay. I chose this essay because Amy Tan has a unique writing style which has tone that is clear and identifiable. Tan makes her arguments in a way that is easily understood. While her tone is sometimes humorous and captivating, it still clarifies some serious issues. These qualities among others leave Tan’s work to be desired by almost any reader because her tone andRead MoreAnalysis Of Amy Tan s The Joy Luck Club, Homer s Odyssey1480 Words   |  6 PagesElbert Hubbard once said â€Å"Our desires always disappoint us; for though we meet with something that. In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, Homer’s The Odyssey translated by Robert Fagles, and Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, hope and expectation illustrate the thin line between success and utter destruction in which hope and expectation are found. Characters such as Junior, and Penelope have begun to master the art of hope, while characters such as June have people aroundRead MoreMother Tongue1199 Words   |  5 PagesRhetorical Analysis of â€Å"Mother Tongue† written by Amy Tan â€Å"So easy to read†(p.4). Amy Tan ends her essay, â€Å"Mother Tongue† with this short and even grammatically wrong sentence. She tells us this mother’s brief review is a proof of success of her writing. Why does she think that easiness is an essence of her writing? She suggests answers to this question by her essay. In her essay, Amy Tan effectively convinces her readers that â€Å"broken English† is not an inferior language, but just