Book Talk: The Joy Luck Club
“Now the woman was old. And she had a daughter who grew up speaking only English and swallowing more Coca-Cola than sorrow. For a long time now the woman had wanted to give her daughter the single swan feather and tell her, ‘This feather may look worthless, but it comes from afar and carries with it all my good intentions.’ And she waited, year after year, for the day she could tell her daughter this in perfect American English” (Tan 17). A Chinese woman migrates to America with a swan, but the workers take her swan away. All she has left is a single feather, which she plans to give to her daughter as a special gift. This quote represents the many mothers’ and their daughters’ struggles to connect with each other. …show more content…
It had a lighter melody but the same flowing rhythm and turned out to be quite easy. ‘Pleading Child’ was shorter but slower; ‘Perfectly Contented’ was longer, but faster. And after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song” (Tan 144). In this quoted text, this analogy provides an important insight of the personalities of the daughters in Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club. Jing-mei realizes that the songs “Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented” are halves of the same song, which symbolizes Jing-mei herself. Jing-mei has two moods that influence her actions; although she is “perfectly contented” at times, Jing-mei also pleads like a child. For example, Jing-mei is not contented with her progress in becoming a musical prodigy; consequently, she desires to abandon her efforts to improve herself. This insight helps one understand the complex character and the motives of …show more content…
‘You must stand tall and listen to your mother standing next to you. That is the only way to grow strong and straight. But if you bend to listen to other people, you will grow crooked and weak. You will fall to the ground with the first strong wind. And then you will be like a weed, growing wild in any direction, running along the ground until someone pulls you out and throws you away’” (Tan 191). An-mei Hsu advises her daughter Rose Hsu Jordan to listen to her mother, for mothers possess the best of intentions for their children. This quote reveals one of the prevailing themes of the novel The Joy Luck Club: mothers possess great wisdom and knowledge of the world, but their daughters refuse to listen and learn those lessons the hard way eventually. An-mei wishes the best for her daughter and tells her advice in order that she will achieve greatness and happiness. Instead of listening to her mother, Rose consorts to her friends and a psychiatrist for guidance; consequently, they all respond differently, which only makes Rose more confused. This quote also illustrates how the Chinese mothers overcome the language barrier with
“Now the woman was old. And she had a daughter who grew up speaking only English and swallowing more Coca-Cola than sorrow. For a long time now the woman had wanted to give her daughter the single swan feather and tell her, ‘This feather may look worthless, but it comes from afar and carries with it all my good intentions.’ And she waited, year after year, for the day she could tell her daughter this in perfect American English” (Tan 17). A Chinese woman migrates to America with a swan, but the workers take her swan away. All she has left is a single feather, which she plans to give to her daughter as a special gift. This quote represents the many mothers’ and their daughters’ struggles to connect with each other. …show more content…
It had a lighter melody but the same flowing rhythm and turned out to be quite easy. ‘Pleading Child’ was shorter but slower; ‘Perfectly Contented’ was longer, but faster. And after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song” (Tan 144). In this quoted text, this analogy provides an important insight of the personalities of the daughters in Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club. Jing-mei realizes that the songs “Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented” are halves of the same song, which symbolizes Jing-mei herself. Jing-mei has two moods that influence her actions; although she is “perfectly contented” at times, Jing-mei also pleads like a child. For example, Jing-mei is not contented with her progress in becoming a musical prodigy; consequently, she desires to abandon her efforts to improve herself. This insight helps one understand the complex character and the motives of …show more content…
‘You must stand tall and listen to your mother standing next to you. That is the only way to grow strong and straight. But if you bend to listen to other people, you will grow crooked and weak. You will fall to the ground with the first strong wind. And then you will be like a weed, growing wild in any direction, running along the ground until someone pulls you out and throws you away’” (Tan 191). An-mei Hsu advises her daughter Rose Hsu Jordan to listen to her mother, for mothers possess the best of intentions for their children. This quote reveals one of the prevailing themes of the novel The Joy Luck Club: mothers possess great wisdom and knowledge of the world, but their daughters refuse to listen and learn those lessons the hard way eventually. An-mei wishes the best for her daughter and tells her advice in order that she will achieve greatness and happiness. Instead of listening to her mother, Rose consorts to her friends and a psychiatrist for guidance; consequently, they all respond differently, which only makes Rose more confused. This quote also illustrates how the Chinese mothers overcome the language barrier with