Revision 1, Project 3, The Joy Luck Club

Editing Challenges:

Answer the Question with a Clear, Debatable Thesis

Paragraph Development

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Project 3: Choose a reading selection. Explore the relationship between elements of the selection. 

Growing up in two different settings, such as China and San Francisco can influence a characters development.

In the book, The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tran, there are four mothers, who were born and raised in China. All four woman immigrated to San Francisco, California, and had children of their own. Their children were born and raised in San Francisco, which was very different from China. Each mother had at least one daughter. The mothers wanted a different life for their children, a better one, but at the same time tried to instill their cultural values. Many years later, the mothers realized that although they wanted a better life for their children in America, it was very different from what they had envisioned and expected.

The author Amy Tran used many different literary devices throughout the book. The four literary devices that were used to tell the story of their past and current lives were flashback, characterization, paradox, and simile.

Flashback is one literary device that was used in the book, in the following quote; “My mother, she suffered. She lost her face and tried to hide it. She found only greater misery and finally could not hide that. There is nothing more to understand. That was China… They had no choice. They could not speak up. They could not run away. That was their fate. But now they can do something else. Now they no longer have to swallow their own tears…” (241) Ani- mei Hsu, one of the mother’s was flashing back to her childhood, which was a memory of her mother. Ani-mei watched her mother not have a voice for herself. She had to keep her feelings to herself, which lead to her misery, and ended when she killed herself with an overdose of opioids. Ani- mei did not want this for her daughter Rose Hsu Jordan, she wanted her daughter to speak up for herself and fight for what she wanted. In the  end Rose did speak up for what she wanted from her soon to be ex-husband, Ted, she tried to fight for her marriage but once she realized it was over, she fought for her house because she wanted to keep it and live there.

“My daughter did not look pleases when I told her this, that she did not look Chinese. She had a sour American look on her face. Oh, maybe ten years ago, she would have clapped her hands – hurray!- as if it were good news. But now she wants to be Chinese, it is so fashionable. And I know it is too late. All those years I tried to teach her!” (253) This quote is using characterization as a literary device as Lindo Jong tried to explain to her daughter, Waverly Jong, even though she is Chinese, when she goes to visit China, they will know that she is a foreigner. Lindo also explains her frustration about all of the years she tried to teach Waverly about her Chinese culture, she did not want to have anything to do with it or learn. Now that she is an adult she wants to know and learn but her mother knows she cannot teach her everything that she wanted to in a lifetime, it’s too late to learn everything.  

An example of a paradox from the story is “.. Chinese New Year, my mother gave me my “life’s importance,” a jade pendant on a gold chain. …..I stuffed the necklace in my lacquer box and forgot about it. ….I wonder what it means, because my mother died three months ago…. Shes the only person I could have asked, to tell me about life’s importance to help me understand my grief. I now wear that pendant every day” (197) This quote shows that although the jade pendant was supposed to show life’s importance to June Woo, but it did not mean anything until her mother, Suyuan Woo was gone. Now June wears it daily and wants to know what her life’s importance is, but she has no one to ask what will give her the meaning that her mother wanted for her.

The following quote is an example of a simile in the book, “I love my daughter. She and I have shared the same body. There is a part of her mind that is a part of her mind. But when she was born, she sprang from me like a slippery fish, and has been swimming away ever since. All her life, I have watched her as though from another shore.” (242) Ying-ying St Clair, the forth mother, watches her daughter Lena St. Clair, live a life that appears to be good on the outside but on the inside, it is meaningless and broken. Ying-ying wants her daughter to have a meaningful and wonder life and not settle for anything less, so she decides to tell her about her past so it can open her eyes.

The following are quotes from the last few chapters when the mothers realize that although they wanted a better life for their children and they tried to find a balance and teach them the Chinese and American cultures, it could not be done and they feel like they failed and now it is too late.

 “It’s my fault she is this way. I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things did not mix?” (254)

“…but I couldn’t teach her about Chinese character. How to obey parents and listen to your mother’s mind. How not to show your own thoughts, to put your feelings behind your face so you can take advantage of hidden opportunities.” (254)

I really enjoyed reading this book and seeing the difference from the Chinese and American cultures and how hard it is to find a balance and teach children a different culture when they are surrounded by another. Especially, when the children can not see the benefits of knowing both. The children also want to be like the other children and families they seen around then, which is a part of assimilation, wanting to be like others and not being different because they might stand out.

Cited Work

Tran, Amy, et at “The Joy Luck Club”, Penguin Books, 2006