The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan is a story about four Chinese mothers and their daughters who have a hard time distinguishing between their Chinese and American culture and following their family traditions. The Joy Luck Club was a group that Suyuan Woo, the mother of Jing-Mei, chose to create in order to give Chinese women who were forced into the America’s a place to come where there would be no negative thoughts or sad stories. It was all fun and laughter around the Mahjong table. When Suyuan died, Jing Mei was asked to come in and take on her mother’s role in the group and in doing this she learned a lot of life lessons that caused her to develop and it also changed the way she interacted with others. In the chapter “The Joy Luck Club”
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Jing Mei and her father, Canning, are on their way to China to meet Suyuan’s daughters. They first stop at Guangzhou to visit her dad’s aunt, Aiyi. Here, Jing Mei begins to feel her Chinese culture coming though. They stop and stay the night at a hotel where is Jing Mei is awoken by her father tapping on a window. He is telling Aiyi stories of his life and also of Suyuan’s life. Jing Mei listens in and is able to hear the story of her mother and why her sisters had to be left behind. She finds out their names and their meanings and she also finds out the meaning of her name. Jing Mei means “best quality” and “younger sister”(Tan,281). Her mother’s name meant “Long Cherished Wish”(Tan, 280). Her mom’s only wish was to reach and meet her daughters. This bothers Jing Mei because she realizes that her mother expected her to step up and not only reach them for her but also be the essence of her other sisters. At this point, her father begins to finish the story of why her mother left them behind but instead of him finishing in English, Jing Mei pleads “no, tell me in Chinese… I can understand”(Tan,281). This is a big turning point for Jing Mei because she went from not being able to understand Chinese or her mother, to learning more about her mother and her Chinese heritage. The next day when Jing Mei goes to meet her sisters, she sees them and “now I see her …show more content…
The main character, Jing Mei, undergoes a lot of transformations that cause her to become a different person by the end of the story. In the beginning, she was a shy, timid girl who didn’t think she knew anything about her mother or her Chinese culture. By the end, Jing Mei has become a young woman who understands more about her mother than she ever thought she could. She has also had the chance to fill her mother’s shoes and fulfill the wish that she always had. In doing this, Jing Mei didn’t only find her sisters but she also found a part of herself that her mother had tried to bring out of her all
Jing Mei and her father, Canning, are on their way to China to meet Suyuan’s daughters. They first stop at Guangzhou to visit her dad’s aunt, Aiyi. Here, Jing Mei begins to feel her Chinese culture coming though. They stop and stay the night at a hotel where is Jing Mei is awoken by her father tapping on a window. He is telling Aiyi stories of his life and also of Suyuan’s life. Jing Mei listens in and is able to hear the story of her mother and why her sisters had to be left behind. She finds out their names and their meanings and she also finds out the meaning of her name. Jing Mei means “best quality” and “younger sister”(Tan,281). Her mother’s name meant “Long Cherished Wish”(Tan, 280). Her mom’s only wish was to reach and meet her daughters. This bothers Jing Mei because she realizes that her mother expected her to step up and not only reach them for her but also be the essence of her other sisters. At this point, her father begins to finish the story of why her mother left them behind but instead of him finishing in English, Jing Mei pleads “no, tell me in Chinese… I can understand”(Tan,281). This is a big turning point for Jing Mei because she went from not being able to understand Chinese or her mother, to learning more about her mother and her Chinese heritage. The next day when Jing Mei goes to meet her sisters, she sees them and “now I see her …show more content…
The main character, Jing Mei, undergoes a lot of transformations that cause her to become a different person by the end of the story. In the beginning, she was a shy, timid girl who didn’t think she knew anything about her mother or her Chinese culture. By the end, Jing Mei has become a young woman who understands more about her mother than she ever thought she could. She has also had the chance to fill her mother’s shoes and fulfill the wish that she always had. In doing this, Jing Mei didn’t only find her sisters but she also found a part of herself that her mother had tried to bring out of her all