Main Characters In Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club - 813 Words

What does identity mean to you? One of the main characters, Ying-ying St.Clair in Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club, was born in a very wealthy family, but influenced by the world around her, she lost her own â€Å"self†. As a result, she remained quiet and listens to all of the omens in life but never pays attention to her own feelings. Even her own daughter, Lena was also influenced by Ying-ying’s overprotection and criticism. In the novel, Ying-ying had evolved from a naive and wild child to a woman who had lost her spirit and bush way her own feelings. Ying-ying was born in the year of the tiger, with a wild and restless nature, but was always told by her mother and Amah that a girl is identify as someone who should be quiet and stand†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"I will tell her at eighteen the prettiness drained from my cheeks. That I thought of throwing myself in the lake like the other ladies of shame. And I will tell her of the baby I killed because I came to hate this man so much.† (P.248) After knowing her husband left her, Ying-ying aborts the baby in her own womb due to her hatred and sees the baby as her husband’s leftover in her life, regardless that it’s her own blood and flesh. She turns to her black tiger side, hides her true self and feels nothing toward killing her own baby. At 1946, Yingying hears about about her first husband’s death, she feels a slight feeling of emptiness and lets Clifford, an American man that she doesn’t love at all to marry her. â€Å"I spoke in a trembly voice. I became pale, ill , and more thin. I let myself become a wounded animal. I let the hunter come to me and turn me into a tiger ghost. I willingly gave up my chi, the spirit that caused me so much pain.† (P.251) Ying-ying chooses not to face her past and lets her spirit fly away with her sadness. Before her first husband dies, she was â€Å"A still-married woman with no husband.†(P.249) But now that he’s dead, she can not regain the strength that she can change her future, which she had lost when her first husband left her. This makes Ying-ying loss trust in her spirit, letting her fate control to her life and forgets about her own feelings. She believes marryingShow MoreRelatedAmy Tan: A Brief Biography757 Words   |  3 PagesAmy Tan is an American Chinese writer most notably known for her critically acclaimed novel The Joy Luck Club, amongst many others. Amy Ruth Tan was born on February 19, 1952, in Oakland California to John and Daisy Tan. Both of Amy’s parents were Chinese immigrants who fled from China to escape hardships. Amy’s mother, Daisy, divorced her abusive husband and left behind three daughters before immigrating to the United States and marrying Amy’s father, John. The marriage produced three children,Read More Ernesto Galarzas Barrio Boy and Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club899 Words   |  4 PagesErnesto Galarzas Barrio Boy and Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club In both pieces of literature; Barrio Boy, by Ernesto Galarza and The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan; the authors portray families and their struggle with language barriers, even within their own families, adapting to the customs and routines of the North American society, and how the younger family members succeeded in school, work, and relationships. In Amy Tan’s book The Joy Luck Club, the theme of the American Dream, whichRead MoreAmy Tan Overcoming Faulty Relationships and Self Identity Essay1514 Words   |  7 PagesAmy Tan struggled with many issues caused by her dual cultures, which she expressed thoroughly in her works. Daisy and John Tan were post war immigrants and the parents of Amy Tan (Amy Tan). Tan was given the Chinese name An-Mei, which stands for blessings from America (McCarthy). To them she was the blessing that they had received after their own struggles. Tan’s father came to America after WWII to become a minister (Amy Tan). Even though it seemed like Tan’s life was running smoothly tragedy struckRead MoreAmericanization in The Joy Luck Club Essay1963 Words   |  8 PagesAmericanization in The Joy Luck Club Oftentimes the children of immigrants to the United States lose the sense of cultural background in which their parents had tried so desperately to instill within them. According to Walter Shear, â€Å"It is an unseen terror that runs through both the distinct social spectrum experienced by the mothers in China and the lack of such social definition in the daughters’ lives.† This â€Å"unseen terror† is portrayed in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club as four ChineseRead MoreTheme Of Sexism In The Joy Luck Club779 Words   |  4 Pages In her 1989 novel, The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan hones into the narratives of four Chinese American immigrant families living in San Francisco. The novel is structured into four distinct, anecdotal sections: two dedicated to mothers and two dedicated to daughters. Tan’s approach to structure allows the interlocking stories between mother and daughter to place emphasis on the issue of sexism. The purpose of Tan’s novel is to highlight that, even though American and Chinese societies drastically differRead MoreJoy Luck Club Sexism Essay713 Words   |  3 PagesSexism and Authority in Chinese Culture In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club the reader is able to look through the eyes of a chinese woman in the 1980’s, a time when men were seen as the superior sex when compared to females, in this age when a man gave an order to a women it was to be followed without hesitation. Characters in the book like Lena St. Clair and Lindo Jong were exposed to the idea of Sexism in their culture as they all have gone through instances where their own desires and dreams had beenRead More A Comparison of Women in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club and Kitchen Gods Wife877 Words   |  4 PagesWomen in The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen Gods Wife  Ã‚        Ã‚   One of the common themes in both The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen Gods Wife is strong women. All the women in both generations in each book gain strength through different experiences. These experiences range from a war-ravaged China to the modern day stresses of womanhood. Though different experiences have shaped each woman, they are all tied together by the common thread of strength.    The Joy Luck Club portrays strongRead MoreThe American Dream in The Joy Luck Club Essay1808 Words   |  8 Pagesthe reason why the mothers of The Joy Luck Club continue to have the Joy Luck Club meetings. Even though they are now in America, they want to make sure their daughters are exposed to and maintain the Chinese culture. Mother/ daughter relationships are a large component in Amy Tan’s award winning novel, The Joy Luck Club. When analyzing the Joy Luck club it is important to consider the life of the author. It is apparent after studying both The Joy Luck Club and Amy Tan that there are some incredibleRead Moreâ€Å"Your Only Shame is to Have Shame†1543 Words   |  7 Pagesthey feel, and by writing they feel they go somewhere else. Amy Tan, a Chinese American, struggled with her true identity which influence her works which mainly focus on identity, the Chinese American dream, and family struggles. Amy Tan had a childhood full of ups and downs, and they are all part of her stories and poems. She overcame many obstacles in her life and learned many lessons that are all reflected in her works. Many of Tan’s works are about personal experiences she had and about her familyRead MoreAnalysis Of Amy Tan s The Joy Luck Club, Homer s Odyssey1480 Words   |  6 Pagesdesires always disappoint us; for though we meet with something that. In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, Homer’s The Ody ssey translated by Robert Fagles, and Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, hope and expectation illustrate the thin line between success and utter destruction in which hope and expectation are found. Characters such as Junior, and Penelope have begun to master the art of hope, while characters such as June have people around her that lower her standards. Success