Final Post

THE JOY LUCK CLUB FINAL POST

What is the setting of the novel?  Is the setting important or could the novel happen anywhere?  Why?  Would it change the plot? In what way?

The Joy Luck Club takes place primarily in modern day San Francisco, United States where the four mothers lived during their adult lives and where the daughters spent their life time. The mothers grew up in different provinces of China such as Kweilin and Taiyuan, Shanghai where the novel’s flashbacks are set when it tells of their childhood memories. They immigrated to America during the World War II, looking for a better life for themselves and their families. For their daughters, they were born in America and lived in the Chinatown area where they lost their Chinese identity, becoming too “white.” The different settings in which the mothers and daughters grew up are crucial because this caused the conflicts and barriers between the mothers and daughters. Living in America and China creates language and culture differences because the daughter have adopted to an American lifestyle, and so they complain to their moms, “Don’t be so old-fashioned.” In this case, they don't understand each other well and they seem foreign to each other because of their conflicting identities as Chinese and American-Chinese.

Would you recommend this book to another reader? Why/Why not? What kind of person would you recommend it to? What would you tell the person about the book?

The Joy Luck Club is a beautifully written novel about four mothers, four daughters and eight stories to share. The structure of the novel is very impressive because it is structured like Mahjong game which is separated into four parts and played by four players. Amy Tan’s writing is simple, and the conflict she writes about is very realistic that I can feel the women’s struggles, which sometimes tears me up. I would recommend this book to everyone, even non-Chinese readers because it is very inspirational, heartwarming and most females can relate to the bittersweet bonds between mothers and daughters. However, for the non-Chinese reader without any Chinese background and understanding of the Chinese’s culture, will need to do some research in order to fully understand the depths of the novel. Also, I had troubles while I’m reading in trying to distinguish who's the mother or daughter. You may want to make a sticky notes because each character has a story, and so they don’t get mixed up.

introductory post

THE JOY LUCK CLUB INTRODUCTORY POST

The book I am reading is very popular, “The Joy Luck Club,” written by Amy Tan. I chose to read this novel because of its interesting title “Joy Luck” - it is not a word in English. The writer’s name, Amy Tan, indicates that she might be of Chinese background. I read the short introduction to the novel and gleaned some understanding before reading the novel describing four Chinese families who live in San Francisco. Since I also have a Chinese heritage from Xiamen, China, but I was born in Malaysia. There should be a lot of connections with the novel and my own background. “The Joy Luck Club” was published in 1989 by G. P. Putnam's Sons and the total number of pages in the book is 404 pages and the online book is 166 pages. Set in San Francisco in 1949, this is a story of four Chinese American families who immigrated to San Francisco and they started a club known as the “The Joy Luck Club.” The club was used to gather the members together to play Mahjong over meals, but that had changed to investing in the stock market. The novel is structured like a Mahjong game which is separated into four sections and played by four players. Mahjong is a very entertaining game, which I played a lot when I was a kid. It is a game involved in strategy, mental skills, calculation, and, most importantly, it is able to gather people to chat. The novel is composed of four sections, where two of the sections are about mothers and the other two sections are about daughters.

A mother, Su Yuan, who founded the club died several months ago with an unfinished wish. During the Japanese War, she was forced to leave Kweilin and abandon her baby twins, Chwun Yu and Chwun Hwa. Then, she immigrated to United States and was remarried to Jing-Mei’s father. Jing-Mei is asked from the aunties to complete her mother’s “unfinished business” which is to go China to meet her twin sisters who have been found in China, and tell them about their mother and Su Yuan’s death. Su Yuan’s separation with her relatives is similar to my grandmother’s experience. During the World War II, my grandmother had to leave her hometown and family behind in China and flee to Malaysia to find a job. Her separation caused her depression and illness in her old age. She always reminds me to stay with family as much as I could because life is short. Jing-Mei always shows no interest and easily gives up on anything that causes her to lose confidence. Also, with the pressure from Su Yuan and the language barriers,"These kinds of explanations made me feel my mother and i spoke two different languages, which we did. I talked to her in English, and she answered back in Chinese."(p12, Amy Tan) she feels more self-doubt and thinks Su Yuan is disappointed in her. However, Su Yuan was never disappointed but proud of her daughter. In the end, Jing-Mei and her father flew to China and met her twins sisters. I can understand Jing-Mei’s feelings. When I tried to give up on my level 8 violin test, but my mom encouraged me to continue and she gave me support. There are no parent in the world who feels shame and disgrace for their children's failures, but they are rather heartbroken.

The second mother, An-Mei’s story starts with her mother leaving her and becomes the fourth concubine of Wu Tshing. Everyone in the family disliked An-Mei’s mother because they believed that she was the cause of An-Mei’s father’s death. Later, An-Mei discovers that her mother was forced to  marry Wu Tshing because he raped her. However, she could not speak up herself so she chose to commit suicide in order for An-Mei to live better. An-Mei tells this story to her daughter, Rose who divorced her husband who cheated on her. At first, she hides her pain and not knowing what to think. After consulting with An-Mei, she spoke for herself, “You can’t just pull me out of your life and throw me away.” (p110, Amy Tan) In the old days, people in China especially women, they don't stand for themselves and suffer without taking action. Nowadays, people can fight for themselves through laws, but it depends if you want to make a change.

The third mother, Ying Ying was taught to be a gentle and passive girl. She married a man she did not love and accepted her fate. Her daughter, Lena followed her path being "like a small shadow so nobody could catch me."(p34, Amy Tan) and she married a guy who controlled her and was selfish towards her. With Ying Ying’s experiences, she encouraged Lena to free herself in the loveless marriage and be brave to take risk. Everyone should think on their own because you can’t rely on others to create your future. You should be brave to direct your own future.

The fourth mother, Lindo promised her family to marry a kid when she was young. She managed to free herself from the loveless marriage while keeping her promise without disgracing her family. Her daughter, Waverly did not know to communicate with her mother and felt like all she did was wrong in her mother’s eyes. In fact, her mother understood her and tried to help out. Linda believed Waverly was being rude without listening to her elders and she needed to respect her mom. We should always listen to elders because they use their experiences to give us knowledge and support us.

The following is a book review for this novel:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7763.The_Joy_Luck_Club

Citation:

https://westernhs.bcps.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_4204286/Image/Grade9GTjoyluckclub.pdf

''Halfway'' Post

THE JOY LUCK CLUB HALFWAY POST

Describe a problem faced by the main character. Explain how the main character deals with the problem.  Make a personal connection to this (either your own experience or that of someone you know).

Jing-Mei is the main character who always shows no interest and easily gives up on anything that causes her to feel unconfident, and “I won’t be what I’m not.”(73, Amy Tan) . Jing-Me mother who always try hard and “She never looked back with regret. There were so many ways for things to get better.” (72, Amy Tan) She believes in hard work will pay off someday. However, the pressure from Su Yuan makes her have self-doubt and creates a distance with her mother. She thinks her mom is ashamed of her because she can’t be a piano prodigy and finish college. However, Su Yuan is never disappointed in her. Instead, she is proud of her daughter and she believes her daughter simply hasn't discovered the good qualities in herself yet. At last, Jing-Mei understands her mom’s love and the meaning of the pendant. I have been through the same experiences as Jing-Mei when I felt ready to give up on my level 8 violin test but my mom encouraged me to continue and give me support during my practice lessons. There isn’t parent in the world who feels shame and disgrace of their children’s failure. Rather, they feel distressed for not being able to share their difficulties.

     

Choose a character who is starting to change and explain how the change is being made and what purpose it serves. Are the changes the character is making, plausible or realistic (could/would actually happen in real life)? Why/Why not?

An-Mei’s daughter, Rose goes through a divorce with her husband, but she can't decide whether or not to sign the divorce paper. Due to her childhood dilemma, her brother Bing died. Since then she experienced difficulties in making decisions. When she gets a divorce, she does not know what to do, what should belong to her. Her mom tells her, “You must think for yourself, what you must do. If someone tells you, then you are not trying.” (70, Amy Tan) Her husband has cheated on her, but she does not believe it, and she did nothing about it. She is suffering without taking action to improve her marriage. After finding out the truth and listening to An-Mei’s mother’s story, who had no choice but to commit suicide to stand for herself and family. She realizes if “she doesn’t try, she can lose her chance forever.”(121,Amy Tan). Then,  she signs the divorce paper and goes to court to get her house back. Her character change was only made possible because of An-Mei’s mother’s story. It is unusual for a person to change drastically over a short period of time. She starts from being passively to an independent woman who fight for her own goods.