When she travels to China, she discovers the Chinese essence within herself, thus realizing a deep connection to her mother that she had always ignored. She also brings Suyuan’s story to her long-lost twin daughters, and, once reunited with her half-sisters, gains an even more profound understanding of who her mother was.For the most part, Jing-mei’s fears echo those of her peers, the other daughters of the Joy Luck Club members. They have always identified with Americans but are beginning to regret having neglected their Chinese heritage. Her fears also speak to a reciprocal fear shared by the mothers, who wonder whether, by giving their daughters American opportunities and self-sufficiency, they have alienated them from their Chinese heritage.Jing-mei is representative in other ways as well. She believes that her mother’s constant criticism bespeaks a lack of affection, when in fact her mother’s severity and high expectations are expressions of love and faith in her daughter.
The Joy Luck Club presents stories about four Chinese-immigrant women and their daughters. Each of the women views the world differently and they try to share their visions with their daughters, hoping that their relationships with their daughters is just as strong as what they had with their own mothers. One of the mothers, Suyuan Woo, forms a club in China called the Joy Luck Club in order to distract her friends from their problems during the Japanese invasion during World War II. She moves to San Francisco in 1947 after losing all of her family during the war, including her twin daughters. She has a daughter named Jing-mei and starts another Joy Luck Club with three other women.
Nearly 40 years after the first meeting, as the novel opens, Suyuan Woo has died and her place at the mah jongg table is assumed by her 36-year-old daughter, Jing-mei. Like many another American-born child of immigrants, Jing-mei has little understanding of her mother's values or the world that shaped them, although recently, the general interest in ethnicity has prompted her to revive her Chinese name, "Jing-mei,'' in preference to the American "June May,'' and has made her more curious about her roots. When her Joy Luck "aunties'' (Lindo Jong, An-mei Hsu, and Ying-ying St. Clair) offer Jing-mei a trip to China to meet her long-lost half sisters, whom Suyuan was forced to abandon as infants while fleeing war-torn Guilin, the "aunties'' (now edging into their 70s) urge Jing-mei to tell her half sisters the story of the mother they never knew. The trouble is, Jing-mei feels she never really knew her mother, either - a feeling shared by the other Joy Luck daughters: Waverly Jong, Rose Hsu Jordan, and Lena St. Clair. The daughters' difficulty in comprehending their mothers
The daughters disagree and believe divorce is ok. The Mothers belief stems from old Chinese culture while the daughters belief stems from American culture where divorces are very common. Another chinese belief the mothers believe that every women should be married. That conflicts with the american belief that a woman is not required to get married, this creates conflict among the daughters. The daughters of the members of the joy luck club grow up struggling to balance
Tamirat Gutema Eng1301-8041 Dr. M. Scott Shepard September 22, 2011 Lena St. Clair’s Own Personal Weakness and Changes The movie, The Joy Luck Club is about the history of four women who were born in china and their American born daughters. The immigrant women met at church in the USA and they establish a small group called “The Joy Luck Club”. They meet every week to play and strengthen their relationship. This movie shows cultural clashes between these Asian mothers and their daughters when they raise their children. Each of these mothers went through different hardships that kept secret for long time.
Aunt Baba had cared for Adeline since she was two weeks old, when her mother died. Adeline always asked to see pictures of her mother but Aunt Baba had no pictures her. Adeline learned years later that her father had ordered all pictures of her mother destroyed. Chinese Cinderella Topics for Discussion • How old was Adeline when her mother died? Why did some of her older siblings blame Adeline for their mother's death?
The culture not only affects their relationships, but the decisions they make along their journey and their resolve. Culture first of all, is probably the most important concept that Amy Tan focuses on during The Joy Luck Club. Take this exemplary quotation, “Five months ago, after a crab dinner celebration Chinese New Year, my mother gave me my “life’s importance,” a jade pendant on a gold chain.” (197) June’s mother (Suyaun) bestows the name “life’s importance” for the pendant to her daughter. June does not appreciate it saying that she “forgot about it.”, missing the entire point her mother was trying to show her. This shows the cultural differences (i.e.
Living Through Your Child in “Two Kinds” The 20th Century short story “Two Kinds” by author Amy Tan tells about the life of a young Chinese girl and her family who immigrated to The Unites States. The young girl’s name is Jing Mei. Jing Mei’s mother always wanted the best for her. She wanted her daughter to become a prodigy at the age of nine. Jing Mei’s mother forces her to try different things that the mother wants her to do to become a prodigy.
Cooking for the family has meaning in each story of The Joy Luck Club, because cooking is a sign of love in Chinese culture. A main point of the novel was the mothers’ wishes to keep the old traditions, and the daughters’ wishes for them to be more understanding of the American culture. Tan and her mother had the same feelings, but, just as the daughters in the book, Tan learns the value of her heritage and embraces it (Kramer 60). Her mother told Tan many stories(Kramer 48). She told many stories about her own life.
In most cases this is true, for when they grow up they eventually figure out that they can reflect (retrace) their problems to that of their parents, and later understand what they had to go through. In the story The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, Jing-mei is (acts like) an ignorant girl to her mother. Whatever tactic her mother tries on her to make her a better person she rejects. Jing-mei is constantly trying to hide her Chinese heritage and even changes her name to “June” to conform to American ways. But as she moves on in life, she begins to regret her past actions and finds out that her mother’s difficulties and problems, are (now) put on her shoulders and (now) for her to solve.