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I found Joy Luck Club particularly interesting because the book is divided into four parts and sixteen stories in total. There are also four mothers and four daughters in total, so they each tell two stories, with the exception of Suyuan Woo, whose stories are told by Jing-mei Woo. The main message that stood out [...] “The Joy luck club” by Amy Tan was a very interesting and entertaining novel, it talks about the life of four mothers and four daughters and how the Chinese culture influenced them. “The Joy luck club”talks about the relationship and bond between the mothers and daughters, how the way and where they are brought up [...] When reading this book i did not enjoy it immensely. What i thought was interesting about the book was the way it was written, a series of short stories all intertwined in the form of a novel. There were points in the book where i found myself very immersed in the story. These were mainly [...] “Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan is about four Chinese families in America with a huge cultural difference between generations. It’s interesting to follow the bond between daughters and mothers, since all the daughters had a struggle to understand their mothers. Throughout the novel we are looking at the point of view from the mothers [...] Recently my class and I have been reading Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. To be honest I found this book boring and uninteresting at first because I yet again had nothing to relate to or could escape from. The book was pretty much about culture which is something that I find interesting if they [...] I felt that the main theme of this section was reunion. In “Queen Mother of the Western Skies” we see a number of different reunions – most notably the reunions of the daughters with their mothers (in a sense) and the reunion of American ways with the traditional Chinese ways. In Magpies, finally learn about [...] Jing-Mei Woo: a Pair of Tickets It was very interesting how Joy Luck Club begins with and ends with the story of Su Yuan’s two lost daughters. In America, Jing-Mei thought that she was very Chinese, but on the train to China she realizes that until then she didn’t really know what it was like [...] Lindo Jong: Double Face As Lindo is taken to hair salon by her daughter, she realizes that Waverly is not proud of her when she is proud of Waverly. She looks back into the past, when she moved to America the first time. When she met her husband who was Cantonese, they had problem speaking [...] An-Mei Hsu: Magpies An-Mei’s story links to her daughter, Rose’s story. An Mei reveals what happened after she followed her mother: she brought An-Mei to Wu Tsing (husband)’s house, and learnt that the Second wife had a bad nature: she looked very caring on the outside, but actually she tries to buy others with [...] An-Mei Hsu: Magpies An-Mei’s story links to her daughter, Rose’s story. An Mei reveals what happened after she followed her mother: she brought An-Mei to Wu Tsing (husband)’s house, and learnt that the Second wife had a bad nature: she looked very caring on the outside, but actually she tries to buy others with [...] Jing-Mei Woo: Best Quality Jing-Mei’s story was quite confusing to me: I still cannot get the meaning of jade necklace her mom gave her, but I’m guessing that it can have various meanings as Jing-Mei surmised. It can be Su Yuan’s wish to tell Jing-Mei how her life felt like, and all the lessons that [...] Rose Hsu-Jordan: Without wood The story begins with Rose and how An-Mei advises her not to listen to others too much and get herself confused. Rose later on explains that she had always thought that American way is better than Chinese way of life, but then there are so many choices which lead her to [...] Waverly Jong: Four Directions In the beginning of this story, I was shocked to find out that Waverly had quit chess. Also, it was quite perplexing to me when Waverly said that her mother makes her see the faults in herself and also others, such as her ex-husband. I wondered how this can happen, but [...] Lena St. Clair: Rice Husband I was intrigued to see how Ying-Ying predicted things such as Lena meeting a bad husband, new baby dying, and closing of the bank just by seeing the feng shui. This might be probably due to one’s faith: when one believes that something can happen, that can actually happen. It [...] Magpies of An-Mei Hsu writes about a turtle that lays eggs, which grabbed my interest. Maybe it was just random, but why a turtle? Does it have a special meaning in Chinese? Ying-Ying St. Clair’s story of Waiting Between the Trees is interesting to me since I find out how the mother broke the vase [...] Rice Husband (Lena St. Clair) is about Lena and her husband Harold. I found the last sentences terse but attention grabbing. “It doesn’t matter”, I say… “I knew it would happen.” “Then why don’t you stop it?” asks my mother. And it’s such a simple question. It is as if the mother breaks the vase [...] I felt that the purpose of this section was to resolve the problems that each of the four girls had been experiencing in their lives. This gives the readers that feel-good notion that everything is going to work out for the best. In Rice Husband we see this in the way that Lena realizes that [...] In this chapter ying ying tells the story of her childhood to her daughter about the times she had been let down through relationships. She does this because she thinks that her daughter’s relationship isn’t stable and will soon fall to pieces, just like her first marriage did. Ever since then ying ying was unable [...] I found Waverly’s story of chess not too interesting, but a more calm type of reading. (Rules of the Game.) I found “Is new American rules, Mei Mei play, squeeze all her brains out for win chess. You play, worth squeeze towel” funny. What did she mean by it being American rules anyway? The Voice [...] In this chapter Jing mei relates to a dinner party in the past that they had that turned out to be a big mess. The argument started through a misunderstanding of Chinese culture and the reasoning why they do things, but towards the end of the chapter the argument is resolved as she finally understands [...] In this chapter rose tells us about her and ted’s miserable relationship in the future. She is unable to speak to her mother about it because she thinks her mother will make her feel worse about the situation and wont listen to her, like she does all the time. In the end of the chapter [...] In Rules of the Game Waverly Jong details how she came to be a great chess player in her childhood. She also shows how she became more independent and rebellious against her mother. I think that she shows this to convey how she was becoming more ‘americanized’ and also how she regretted being ungrateful to [...] I though that the Feathers From a Thousand Li Away stories were an effective opening to “Joy Luck Club” because it offered a background into the formation of the club and of each of the women who were part of the club. Each of the 4 chapters tells a story of an important event in [...] Jing-Mei woo: Two kinds Jing-Mei is believed to be a prodigy by her mother. She tries various things like playing piano, but she doesn’t think it was for her own sake but was for her mother’s benefit. She failed the music recital, and after arguing with her mom she didn’t have to take piano lessons. [...] Rose Hsu Jordan: Half and Half Rose is about to get divorced with her husband Ted, but her mom will not approve it. They had been living together well, but after Ted was involved in sue he became more dependent on Rose’s decisions, causing misunderstandings. Rose then recalls her childhood when she was responsible for [...] Lena St.Clair: The voice from the wall Lena’s mom, Ying-Ying doesn’t talk about her life in China, and even though Lena can speak Chinese fluently she cannot fully understand the connotations of her mom’s speech. When her father gets promotion, they move into the new house and Lena hears fight of mom and daughter from [...] Waverly Jong: Rules of the game Waverly is Lindo’s daughter, and this chapter shows how she became successful nationally as a chess player. I personally thought this chapter linked Lindo’s and Waverly’s life very well: Lindo escaped from her marriage and found her own ‘value’, and Waverly discovered her strength through chess. I found the [...] This last section was the most touching out of all of them in my opinion because we could really see how the mother’s had suffered in their past and how their stories make them who they are today and it shows us why they want the best for their daughters. The last chapter where Jing [...] The last chapter is again written by Jing Mei because her mother had died. In this chapter, she talks about how she boarded a plane to China and found her relatives and eventually her long lost half sisters. She tries to find similarities between them and she doesn’t immediately see any and thinks that the [...] Chinese culture believes that certain placement or size of facial features determines whether a person will have good fortune later in life and Lindo Jong says that as a girl she was told that she would have good fortune, however, she thinks that since she came to America, her face has changed and she no [...] In this chapter, Ying Ying talks about her childhood and how wealthy she was. She talks about her first marriage to a man who didn’t love her and soon after they got married, he became unfaithful. She had seen that her baby would be a boy but she decided to abort the baby after she [...] In this chapter, An Mei talks about the time during her childhood where she lived with her mother at the house of her second husband as the third concubine to a wealthy man in the merchant industry. She is the mother to his only heir however, the second wife is much more cunning that she [...] The third section of the book is called American Translation and I really think that the title suited this section because there was a lot of examples where the daughters couldn’t understand the mothers. It is similar to translation because when one language is translated to another, some meanings and connotations are lost and so [...] Jing Mei talks about how a few months ago, her family had a dinner party at their house. Her mother took her grocery shopping for some crabs and Jing Mei tries to help by picking out one but it has a defect and the leg gone and her mother doesn’t want to buy it but [...] Rose Hsu thinks that her mother is trying to make her obedient and listen to her but her mother is actually just trying the teach her the stories and lessons that her mother taught her before. Her mother thinks that she understands her daughter better than any psychiatrist would ever understand her. But, Rose doesn’t [...] This chapter slightly differed from the last because it starts out with a memory from more recent times after she has grown up. In this story, we can see how the mother and daughter doesn’t understand each other and because of some misunderstandings they do not get along. Waverly thinks that her mother doesn’t approve [...] This chapter really emphasized some aspects of Chinese culture that even I find hard to understand sometimes as a 100% Taiwanese person. For example, most people believe in feng shui and if something is not in balance then something will go wrong in the future. When Lena was younger, she believed in the symbolism that [...] This section was all narrated by the daughters of the members of the Joy Luck Club and they all told of stories of their childhood. They were most likely the one that impacted them the most and morals that came out of that particular experience. The anecdote before the section “officially” starts seems to be [...] In this story, Jing Mei talks about her childhood memory of how her mother wanted her to be a child prodigy and constantly told her to try to do something after seeing it on the television. Jing Mei at first tried to tell her mother that she wasn’t a child prodigy and to stop having [...] Hi everyone, In your Joy Luck Club posts, please don’t simply summarize the plot: give your personal response to the chapters. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Queen Mother Of The Western Skies Chapter 13: Magpies ( An-Mei Hsu) An-Mei thinks about her daughter’s marriage on the rocks and recalls what happened to her own mother years ago. Her mother was a widow after her father died. One night, she was raped bt his rich man, Wu Tsing. After which, she bore [...] American translation Chapter 9: Rice Husband (Lena St.Clair) In this chapter, Lena tells us about how her mother can predict bad things that would befall their family. She also talks about her love life- her marriage with Harold. Their marriage was based on fairness, especially when it comes to money. When Lena’s mother visits their [...] The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates Chapter 5: Rules of the Game (Waverly Jong) In this chapter, Waverly tells us about her mother’s influence on her while she was growing up. From a young age, Waverly tries to outsmart her mother, but her mother always triumpths. We see Waverly’s impression of her mum- out to torture her [...] This section of the book is basically narrated by the mothers. Except for Jing-Mei Woo, who narrates instead of her mother. However, she recalls her mother saying a story, so it ends up being the mother telling the story anyway. The stories are all set in China, and written about things that happened when these [...] The narrator, Rose Hsu Jordan, talks about a traumatic childhood memory in which her brother, Bing, is lost in the ocean under her watch and the guilt she feels after it even though everyone in the family is blaming it on herself. Her mother tries to find her lost son by making sacrifices to her [...] Feathers From A Thousand Li Away Chapter 1: The Joy Luck Club (Jing-Mei Woo) We learn that Jing-Mei’s mother, Suyuan, died two months ago. Jing-Mei/June narrates this section of the book, telling us about the back ground of the Joy Luck Club- how it was formed and how it worked. She is narrating the story [...] This chapter starts with a summary that links to the problems later mentioned. Lena St Clair tells readers of the time when her mother started to decline mentally until the point when simple house tasks become difficult. After her mother’s second baby was born dead, Lena’s mother began to see signs in the house that [...] Waverly Jong, one of the daughters, shares her story of her childhood and how she came to become a chess champion. She started playing with an old set that her brother got as a Christmas present from their church and soon began playing with the old men in the park. In this chapter, we also [...] Feathers from a Thousand Li away Ying-ying St.Clair: The Moon Lady Her first statement “we are lost.” was very striking as it contrasted with her innocent, vivacious infancy that comes up later. The part when Ying-ying found out that her attempt to meet and tell the Moon Lady her wish was shattered after her seeing [...] Feathers from a Thousand Li Away Lindo Jong: The Red Candle Lindo Jong’s story shows how she was betrothed to a guy even before she grew up. The Chinese culture is again revealed in this chapter: how her mother treats her like she already belongs to other family, how promise was considered very important, and [...] Feathers from a Thousand Li away An-mei Hsu: Scar The story of the ‘mother’, An-mei Hsu, was quite different from that of Jing-mei, who’s more affected by the American culture. Firstly, the hostility that Popo showed towards An-mei’s mother was confusing: it made me wonder what caused her to even call her own daughter ‘ghost’ [...] Feathers from a Thousand Li away Jing-mei Woo: The Joy Luck Club It was quite shocking to me that the story Joy Luck Club started with one of the member’s daughter, and also the news about that member’s death. The first chapter explained the origin of Joy Luck Club, the way it works and how [...] An Mei Hsu, one of the mother’s in the book, tells her story of how her estranged mother left her and her brother to be raised by her grandmother while she went off to marry another man who already had 3 wives. Her grandmother teaches her to not mention or even think about her mother [...] This section mainly consisted of telling the stories of the mothers. The first one was narrated by the daughter of Su Yuan Woo because her mother had died, however, the rest were narrated by the mother’s themselves. It tells of their past and it shows a great difference from the casual and not so serious [...] Ying Ying St Clair, tells the story of her childhood as the daughter of a first wife of a wealthy man. She remembers her first celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival and going to see the Moon Lady. She falls off the boat at some point and is rescued by some fisherman. She remembers this [...] Lindo Jong was promised as a bride to a wealthy family’s only son at the young age of 2. In this chapter, she describes how she grew up knowing that she belonged to another family because her mother constantly told her so, not to hurt her feelings but so she wouldn’t feel so sad when [...] The first chapter is narrated by June (Jing Mei Woo), who is the late Su Yuan Woo’s daughter. It starts when Jing Mei walks into one of their friend’s house for their usual Joy Luck Club meeting which she is now head of following the death of her mother. She tries to quickly learn their [...] |
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