“I once sacrificed my life to keep
my parents’ promise.” (49)
This is a quote from, The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tran,
the chapter was about one of the club members, Lindo Jong, and the title was The Red Candle. When Lindo Jong was 2
years old she was betrothed to a younger baby boy, Tyan-yu by the towns old
village matchmaker. At the age of 12 years old her family had to move away
because their family home was destroyed. Lindo Jong had to stay and was sent to
live with the betrothed’s family. “But I could not stop my mother from giving
me her chang, a necklace made out of a tablet of red jade. When she put it
around my neck, she acted very stern, so I knew she was very sad. “Obey your family.
Do not disgrace us.” She said. “Act happy when you arrive. Really, you’re very
lucky.” (54) Throughout this chapter Lindo Jong is mistreated and is expected
to learn all of the things she needs to know to be a good wife to her soon to
be husband. Lindo Jong was not happy with her life and once she married Tyan-yu
at the age of 16 years old, they acted happy infront of the family but slept
separately at night in the same room. Tyan-yu was not happy and did not want to
be with Lindo Jong, they never sleep with each other and were forced to after
many months of her not being pregnant. Through the unhappiness Lindo Jong did
not disobey her family, she acted as if she was happy and did everything she
was told. She was able to use a dream and a young pregnant servant girl as her
way to be released of her promise to Tyan-yu and at the same time she did not disobey
her parents, however she did scarified her life for many years to keep her
parents promise.
The literary devises used in this
section of the story were flashback and imagery. Flashback was used to tell the
story of her past and how she kept her parents promise. Imagery was used when
she tricked the Tyan-yu’s mother and the matchmaker in thinking she had a dream
and used facts she had seen to create a story that she was able to prove and use
to show that she was not Tyan-yu’s spiritual wife. These literary devices were
key to this part of the story and really give it meaning and kept me as the
reader engaged.
Works Cited
Tran, Amy, “The Joy Luck Club.” Pp 49-66
This is a great analysis. I feel like I could read your weekly analysis and reading notes to get every necessary detail of the story as if I had read it myself. I look forward to continuing to follow your weekly analysis/ close readings.
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Amanda
Hi Amber. You did a great job on your analysis. I think Lindo was very clever to come up with a story to get herself out of her unhappy marriage. It is very smart of her to have used the pregnant servant as evidence that her dream was vital to her own marriage. You did a great job in explaining this situation. I enjoyed reading your analysis.
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