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The Joy Luck Club Essay

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The film The Joy Luck club presents the life story of four Chinese women that influences their American daughters to fight for their own existence, respect, and worth in the society. The film brings the harsh realities of Chinese culture by revealing the past lifestyle of four Asian women in China. The four women named Suyuan, Ying-Yang, An-Mei, and Lindo migrates to America after swallowing the miserable experience of their life in China. In San Francisco, they started a club known as The Joy Luck Club, where they share their stories while playing mahjong. At the end, the stories of their own mother help their daughters to learn not to get suppressed under the cultural complexities of the society and to stand for their own identity. The cultural aspect of the film The Joy Luck club that expanded my understanding of Chinese culture is the marriage system, the belief in obedience, and the patriarchal society. The film exposes wicked marriage system followed by Chinese culture. Some of the beliefs imposed by the society seem to be extremely disturbing and idiotic such as child marriage. The film also gives us an insight of the Chinese marriage ceremony, where the bride and groom …show more content…
Unfortunately, women in Chinese culture were considered lesser compared to male. The unbalanced nature of society for female can be seen throughout the film. For example, in one scene, Aunt Lindo shares the moment on the first night of her wedding and refers to her husband saying that, “the one who controls my destiny.” Also, An Mei’s mother commits suicide being raped, worthless, and dishonored by his own family. In Chinese culture, women’s position in society was close to a slave. In the film, women struggle for their worth, respect, and freedom in the society. However, they all overcome the rigidness of their culture and sets an example for their daughters to rebel against any

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