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The Influence of Mothers in the Novel "The Joy Luck Clu

Uploaded by spootyhead on Mar 06, 2007

The Influence of Mothers in the Novel "The Joy Luck Club"


Many, if not all people, at one time or another in their lives resent their mothers. In this novel, The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan portrays four Chinese-American born daughter’s stories. Their trials and tribulations in dealing with their Chinese born mother’s, culture and beliefs in 20th century America are presented. Tan also portrays the flip side of how the mothers feel about their “Americanized” daughters. The Joy Luck Club has been on the New York Times best sellers list for nine months. The novel has also been made into a movie. Tan’s other novels reflect on Chinese culture, history, beliefs and Chinese families living in America, usually set in California. The Kitchen God’s Wife, is a novel about one woman who reflects back on her life in China. The Hundred Secret Senses portrays a woman from China who beholds “Yin eyes” and can see dead people. Both of these novels have also been on the best sellers list. The Kitchen God’s Wife has been the number one best seller, and The Hundred Secret Senses has been the national best seller. Tan’s newest novel is The Bonesetter’s Daughter. It is currently on the New York Times best sellers list.

In the novel, members of the Joy Luck Club are four old “aunties” who congregate regularly in San Francisco to play mah-jongg, eat Chinese food and talk about their children. When one of the members dies, her daughter, Jing-mei (June) Woo takes her mothers place in the club. June feels out of place with the “aunties” because of their differences in age and beliefs.

She is made uncomfortable by the older generation’s insistence on maintaining old customs and parochial habits, which she views as an impediment to breaking loose from her parents’ cultural gravity. What she yearns for is to lead an independent, modern and American life free of the burden of her parents’ Chineseness and the overweening hopes for their children that they can’t even “begin to express in their fragile English”. (Schell, 2)

June is embarrassed by her Chinese heritage and wants to be “American” and not have to deal with her parent’s Chinese culture. She is afraid of becoming her mother:

…I saw myself transforming like a werewolf, a mutant tag of...

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Uploaded by:   spootyhead

Date:   03/06/2007

Category:   Literature

Length:   5 pages (1,228 words)

Views:   3185

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