...The Joy Luck Club: The Generation Gap “The old woman remembered a swan she had bought many years ago in Shanghai for a foolish sum. This bird, boasted the market vendor, was once a duck that stretched its neck in hopes of becoming a goose, and now look!—it is too beautiful to eat.” (The Joy Luck Club). The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan, takes you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions with the heartbreaking truth of the harsh realities of the world around us. Bringing serious topics to the attention of her audience, she is informing them through her work, what the hardships of life are. As this story progresses, the viewer will see a various amount of themes, but the generation gap is visibly present. With her mother nearly dying,...
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...Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club uses much characterization. Each character is portrayed in different yet similar ways. When she was raised, she would do whatever she could to please other people. She even “gave up her life for her parents promise” (49), I the story The Red Candle we get to see how Tan portrays Lindo Jong and how she is brought to life. Tan likes to show Lindo through indirect characterization. Lindo would always try to make things right. She would be polite to her new mother in law and when she was with her mother in law she would hold out a treat and say “ For you, Mother” (53). Even though Huang Taitai was not her real mother, Lindo would act as though she was, but before Lindo did this she would turn to her mother and ask for forgivness. This shows that she is a caring girl and she will always try to behave and be nice to every one. Tan also shows us how brave Lindo is. When it came time for the family to leave for shanghai, it was said that “the whole family except for Lindo would leave” (53). Lindo didn’t say a word. When the day finnaly came, no one said goodbye. All that was said was, “do not disgrace us” When Lindo arrived, she wasn’t given a celebration or anything. She went straight to the kithchen and started to work. Even though Lindo really missed her family, she knew that she had to stay and keeo her parent’s honor. This still shows that she was brave, that she is not a selfish girl. She is determined to please others. When Lindo saw her...
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...Amy Tan’s novel Joy Luck Club, illustrate the life of four Chinese mothers and daughters and also the conflict between Chinese and American culture. Even if they all are Chinese, the daughters are born and raised in America, they don’t have the same miserable, desperate and hard life as there mother had back in China. The point of view of the mothers and daughters is very different in the story. All the daughters think about if their Chinese culture might have created problems for them, neither of the daughters can deny their mother nor their culture, but they all do have some issues about their mother attitude and ambition. For example Jing-Mei she was forced to play piano, “my mother believed you could be anything you want in America” (p.132: Two Kinds) and show the talent and the concern that she didn’t had, and also she was always compared with Waverley’s success. Even if Waverley was successful in chess game she also had problems with her mothers affected conduct, "Why do you have to use me to show off? If you want to show off, then why don't you learn to play chess.” ( p.99: Rules of the Game). Of course Jing-Mei and Waverly are not the only one to suffer their mothers ambition for their future but they are the one whom mothers were competing in a secret and discreet way. This shows the Chinese personality mothers. Beside these two cases the other personalities that Chinese mothers have are that they don’t want their daughter to marry an American man because they...
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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...
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...In Amy Tan’s 1989 novel The Joy Luck Club, the author utilizes symbols and juxtaposition to show the importance of heritage and their mother-daughter bond in the novel. In the chapter Double Face, Lindo reflects on her circumstances that led her to America and her wish for her daughter to become different from her, along with her relationship and how out of touch she thinks she is with her daughter, but comes to realize that they are both very similar women and that they both have influenced each other more than they have realized. Tan particularly brings up the women’s noses to use as a symbol of their relationship as mother and daughter. When looking at themselves in the mirror, Lindo recalls a memory of when she broke her nose after arriving...
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...In the short story In The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan shows us how Jing-Mei develops, interacts with other characters, and advances throughout the course of the text. Out of the four families Jing-Mei learned valuable lessons from her mother. Her and her mother experienced many thing from her mother leaving her baby sisters, to her trying to become a prodigy, from her learning things that would help her later, and meeting her sisters even though her mother was not able to. The main character Jing-Mei learns important lesson and gradually changes from being confused like she just thought she couldn’t be nothing better than the way she already was so she didn’t try very hard to developing into trying and doing things that would help her like...
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...In the book The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, several characters face relationship issues due to family or internal issues. These conflicts could be due to elemental imbalances between the characters, so eBalance would be the ideal app for them to find love. In order to persuade the characters to join eBalance, an advertisement was created with rhetorical devices that convince the characters to use the product by appealing to the ideals they sought while giving them an option that their parents would approve of. Palilogy supports the purpose of connecting the word ‘balance’ to the name of the product as well as the five elements, “wood, fire, water...earth, [and] metal,” and also to the service itself (63). Through repetition, it emphasizes the...
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...In the Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, a American born daughter of Chinese immigrants, a variety of collisions within Chinese-American cultures is explained. Most significantly the characters of Jing-Mei, representing the Americanized new generation of Chinese culture, and Suyuan, representing the Old Chinese generation, exemplify this throughout the novel. For instance, when Jing-Mei Woo or “June”, the daughter of Suyuan Woo, who founded the Joy Luck Club, is introduced, she represents the Americanized new generation of the Chinese daughters in the story, which can already be inferred because of the Americanization of her name from Jing-Mei to “June”. She struggles with accepting her heritage and -like the other daughters in the novel- is a conformist to American culture and society, trying to abandon Chinese customs and values. While her mother, Suyuan Woo, represents the mothers in the story who are the older Chinese generation with laid back values and expectations trying to ensure an opulent life for their children....
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...Ever struggle with your mom or dad? Well, ‘Rules of the game’, a snippet from the book ‘The Joy Luck Club’ has many themes, and that is one of them!. From selfishness and being greedy, to ignoring Waverly’s, the main character's, family. Waverly has no trouble with thinking properly at the beginning but falls short at the end when she argues with her family. Keeping this up, Waverly becomes self-absorbed by the end. That is why I believe that the author thinks that people should think before they act. By how she acts normally, and how she changes, you can tell the author must’ve wanted something mental to be going on inside of Waverly’s head. Waverly thinks before she acts at the beginning. ”Having watched the other children opening their gifts, I already knew that the big gifts were not necessarily the nicest ones. One girl my age got a large coloring book of biblical...
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...The Different Facets of Characters The different perspectives writers put into their stories give readers a more complete understanding of the characters. In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, Rose Hsu Jordan constantly refuses to confide in her mother, An-mei Hsu, about her divorce, choosing to talk to a psychiatrist instead, while her mother wants to help her. Both mother and daughter have experienced a tragedy involving death in their pasts, which leads to how they act in the present. However, when Rose goes through more serious conflicts during her adulthood, she often looks to others for help instead of her family. Her opinion of her mother changes from admiration when she was a child, to the opposite in her adulthood. Tan’s use of multiple...
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...The battle of obedience and freedom deeply affected many characters in the novel, The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan. Throughout the stories of four Chinese immigrants and their daughters, they fight for freedom, or attempt to take the path of becoming independent. While making an effort to reach their goals, the author has used indirect characterization to reveal their personalities. In the Story "The Red Candle" from The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan uses indirect characterization, especially through speech, actions, and thoughts, to highlight that Lindo Jong is courageous, strong, and caring. Initially, her determination for her family’s success reveals her courageous characteristic. As a young girl, only twelve years old, she was forced into a house that belonged to the mother of a boy she was set to marry. Her thoughts...
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...[pic] Chinese Traditional Woman Image --- the Chinese Mother in Joy Luck Club by 陆婉霖 A thesis presented to the School of English Studies of Xi’an International Studies University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts May 18, 2011 Class: 2007-19 Advisor: 常莉 西安外国语大学 毕 业 论 文 开 题 报 告 |姓名 |陆婉霖 |性别 |女 |班级 |2007-19 |学号 |0701011921 | |论文题目： | |Chinese Traditional Woman Image --- the Chinese Mother in Joy Luck Club | |《喜福会》中中国式母亲体现出的中国传统女性形象 | |任务起止日期: 2010 年9 月1 日 至 2011 年 5 月27日 | |论文主要内容及参考文献： | |本文从跨文化交际和文学的角度对谭恩美的小说《喜福会》进行了分析。通过认知解读传统文化中的女性角色以及书中主人公的遭遇，使读者理解| |书中上一代母亲们的自我认知历程以及在此过程中所形成的价值观。文中展现了四个母亲和四个女儿的成长背景及人物性格，概述了每个人物所| |经历的不同境遇，分析了单独事件的文化原因及影响，从而呈现出典型的中国传统女性形象。文章从不同角度举出例子概括这一普遍的社会现象| |并且分析了母女冲突的原因并且从积极的角度对其结果给予了分析与展望。 | |参考文献： ...
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...For this paper, please concentrate on the collectivistic traits of the Chinese culture. In your own words, please explain the definition of collectivism. You will also need to refer to examples/scenes in the movie where the characters are displaying this cultural aspect. Again, this paper should be three to four pages in length. • when she asks them how hard it should have been to write that her mother died, and all women are uncomfortable The movie The Joy Luck Club tells the stories of Chinese mothers who move to America with their daughters. Whereas the mothers are more persistent in their Chinese identity, the daughters are actively influenced by the American culture. The Chinese culture is very food-oriented. Food is not only a crucial part of the daily life as meals, but it also is a way of taking care for the family. For Chinese mothers, it’s a way to show their love tot heir children, not trough hugs and kisses. The movie has some scenes related to chinese family dinners that show us that chinese eating culture as well as table manners is very different than the western eating culture. At Lindo’s birthday dinner for example, her daughter brings her american fiancé, who first of all doesn’t master the skills toe at with chopsticks, but is also unknowing of the Chinese table manners. First of all, in a collectivistic culture, there is strong emphasis on sharing food. The food will be presented in the middle of the table, and each guest will make sure to only take...
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...The conflict between Chinese traditional family concept and American individualism Because of the different cultural background and thinking mode, Americans and Chinese have many conflicts in life style, which is best revealed in this film The Joy Luck Club. The mothers, who grew up in China and still keep Chinese traditional value and concept, are the first generation immigrants in America. Their daughters, however, are often born and grow up in America, and are deeply affected by the American moral standard and acting principles. This article analyse the conflicts between mothers and daughters in four aspects：1.The conflict between Chinese traditional family concept and American individualism 2.The conflict between the difference of power destance in Chinese family and the equal concept in American family 3.The conflict between Chinese modest and American straightforwardness. Actually, it’s not only the generation gap but also the cross-cultural conflicts throughout the film. 1.The conflict between Chinese traditional family concept and American individualism. The chinese are collectivist, placing high value on group cooperation and individual modesty.Americans are individualist,placing high value on self-reliance and freedon from externally imposed constraints.After Waverly won the national chess champion, her mother proudly showed it everywhere. Finally Waverly can’t stand her mother anymore, and she said angrily to her mother ：“why you always show me to others...
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...The joy luck club The movie is about the complex mother –daughter relationships of four Chinese families whose roots from the past intertwine within the present causing conflicts and misunderstandings in their lives. It’s also a movie about power of family. There is a problem with communication in nearly every single account .One reason for this is the mothers struggle with English and the daughters has a very slim grasp on the Chinese dialect of their mothers.so they cannot grasp the full meaning what they are trying to say to each other. Other problem is due to cultural clash. Mothers are still very much influenced by a culture that the daughters have never experienced. In Chinese culture the parents have a strong bond with their children but don’t like to express their love and don’t openly communicate to their children and they are strict. They do not habitually explain everything, Verbal message is indirect; one talks around the point. The mothers expect their daughters to obey their elders and so learn by obedience. The daughters born and raised in America do not understand or care about the old customs and are embarrassed by their traditionalism and other somber attitude. Daughters think of themselves as American and adopt the culture that surrounds them. This difference makes it hard to really communicate. From the perspective of mothers, a mother passes on her strengths and weakness to her daughters. She has a responsibility to provide them with a good future, keep...
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