The Joy Luck Club: Difference between revisions

 

 

The book centers around four mother-daughter pairs living in San Francisco. The mothers are Suyuan Woo, An-Mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-ying St. Clair. The daughters are, respectively, Jing-Mei (June) Woo, Rose Hsu Jordan, Waverly Jong, and Lena St. Clair. All of the mothers immigrated from China during their lives, and much of the book talks about their relationships with their mothers, with the exception of Suyuan Woo. The book is structured in sixteen chapters, each narrated in first person by one of the characters; the first four are told by the mothers, the next eight are told by the daughters, and the last four are told by the mothers, all with the exception of Suyuan Woo, who is dead at the beginning of the novel, so Jing-Mei takes her chapters. Most of each chapter is dedicated to a flashback of the narrator's childhood, usually regarding a particular incident or series of events involving that character's mother.

 

* [[Abusive Parents]]: Or rather, abusive aunt and uncle in young An-Mei's case. Lena thinks she encounters one in the apartment next to her as a child, but it turns out the mother and daughter are only playing.

* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: The film kept most of the stories (with some changes), but trimmed some parts.

** 4-year-old Bing's death.

* [[Arranged Marriage]]: Lindo's first marriage, to a [[Spoiled Brat]].

** Probably a deconstruction for Rose and Lena. They are not happy with their husbands for the husbands do not understand them and vice-versa. They eventually divorce.

* [[Batman Gambit]]: Lindo's plan of getting out of her first marriage.

* [[Extreme Doormat]]: Tan makes it pretty clear on just how terrible the consequences can be if a woman acts as such.

* [[Flash Back]]: All the mother and daughter stories up to the present.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]] [[X Meets Y|Meets]] [[My Death Is Just the Beginning]]: An-mei's mother, trapped into a horrific marriage, commits suicide by poison, but does so two days before the new year. Folklore states that the third day after death is when a spirit returns to settle old scores -- and you do ''not'' want a spirit angry with you on New Year's Day. An-mei's mother ensures her daughter and son will be cared for.

* [[Like Brother and Sister]]: The extent of Lindo's relationship with her first husband.

* [[Parental Abandonment]]: ''Entirely'' unwillingly, on {{spoiler|Suyuan's}} part.

* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: Mr. St. Clair could never understand his wife fully because of this, resulting in a marriage run mostly by tolerance than true love. Also a common case between the mothers and daughters.

* [[Pretty in Mink]]: Waverly's fiance giving her a mink coat.

* [[The Roaring Twenties]]: In the sequences with the mothers' childhoods. More evident in An-mei and Ying-ying's stories, given how they were raised in wealthy families with some Western influence.

* [[Rich Bitch]]: Ying-ying in her youth, before she was broken by her terrible first marriage. The Second Wife in An-mei's story is this to a T.

* [[Stage Mom]]: Suyuan and Lindo in regards to their daughters' piano playing and chess playing. Suyuan especially counts since the only reason Jing-Mei picked up the piano in the first place was because Suyuan was trying to force her into being a child star.

* [[Well Done Daughter Girl]]: Waverly and Jing-Mei feel this about their mothers, who constantly compared each of their daughters to the other's.

* [[World War Two]]: Most prominent in Suyuan's story.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Joy Luck Club]]

[[Category:Literature]]