The Joy Luck Club
Stage 6
Before Reading
ruLes of the gAme, the voice from the WALL,
Activity 1 before reading
Open answers. Encourage discussion.
Activity 2 before reading
Open answer. Encourage discussion of different
interpretations, but do not tell students if their
guesses are right or wrong. Number 3 is probably
the best answer, although number 2 also applies.
Activity 3 before reading
Open answers. Encourage discussion.
While Reading
the joy LucK cLub while reading
1 Why . . .? Because she was replacing her mother,
Suyuan Woo, who used to be the fourth player but
who had died two months ago.
2 Who . . .? Suyuan Woo.
3 Why . . .? Because over the years she heard the same
story again and again (except for the true ending).
4 Why . . .? To cheer themselves up and to forget for a
while the misery and anxiety all around them.
5 What . . .? A wheelbarrow.
6 What . . .? Only three fine silk dresses, worn one on
top of the other.
7 Who . . .? Her two daughters.
8 Who . . .? Her mother’s women friends from the Joy
Luck Club – An-mei, Lindo, and Ying-ying.
9 What . . .? To tell her sisters all about their mother.
the joy LucK cLub, scAr, the reD cAnDLe,
the moon LADy while reading
1 Suyuan and Lindo were young women; An-mei and
Ying-ying were young children.
2 Open answers. Encourage discussion.
before reADing Any more
Encourage students to speculate and to make
guesses, but do not tell them the answers. They
will find out later that Jing-mei goes to China, that
Auntie Lindo has written to tell them their mother
is dead, and that the meeting is a happy one.
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31 the joy luck club
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© Oxford University Press
Some of the remarks can be interpreted in different
ways, which are equally valid. Encourage students
to discuss their interpretations; some suggestions
are given below.
Rules of the Game
1 Lindo Jong to her daughter Waverly, about not
crying for salted fruit in the shop. Interpretation:
It is wiser and more effective to use subtle and less
obvious ways to achieve your goals.
2 Waverly to her mother, about her mother showing
her off to everyone they meet as the child chess
prodigy.
3 Waverly to her mother, about Rich, the man she
intends to marry, and the expensive fur jacket he has
given her as a Christmas present.
4 Lindo Jong to family friends, explaining how easy
it is to win at chess. Interpretation: You should
make moves in the game which disguise your true
intentions; this is the way to confuse your opponent.
The Voice from the Wall
1 Ying-ying St Clair to her daughter Lena, explaining
why she was rearranging the furniture in their new
apartment, which she felt was a bad place to live.
Interpretation: You will never feel comfortable or at
peace if you do things against your instincts.
2 The girl next door to Lena, about the arguments she
has with her mother.
3 Lena to her mother, about the list on the fridge door
of the things she and Harold have each paid for.
4 Ying-ying to her daughter Lena, about the vase that
fell off the badly made table, which Lena had known
would happen. Interpretation: You should not wait
passively for bad things to happen; you should do
something to prevent them.
Without Wood
1 An-mei Hsu to God, about her son Bing, promising
his better behaviour if God would return him from
the sea, into which he had fallen the day before.
2 An-mei to her daughter Rose, about Rose trying to
save her marriage. Interpretation: Making an effort,
not just giving up, is something that everyone has to
do.
3 An-mei to Rose, explaining that just taking advice
or accepting instructions is not good enough – you
must think for yourself.
4 Rose to her husband Ted, about their divorce.
Interpretation: Rose has now decided to put up a
bit of a fight, and not to let Ted do just what he
wanted, without reference to her wishes.
before reADing Activities (pAge 109)
activities answers
Without WooD, best quALity while reading
After Reading
activities answers
Best Quality
1 Suyuan Woo to her daughter Jing-mei, saying that
Jing-mei could be just as good at something as
Lindo’s daughter Waverly.
2 Lindo Jong to her friend and rival, Suyuan Woo,
about having to dust all the prizes that her daughter
Waverly has won. Interpretation: Lindo seems to be
congratulating Suyuan on not having an extra bit of
housework to do; but in fact she is boasting about
her own daughter’s success as a child chess prodigy.
3 Jing-mei to Waverly, about having enough money
to go to Waverly’s hairdresser. Interpretation:
Jing-mei’s purpose in saying this was to embarrass
Waverly in public about the unpaid bill, as a revenge
for Waverly’s unpleasant remark about Jing-mei’s
lack of financial success.
4 Suyuan to her daughter Jing-mei, about the gold
chain with the piece of jade. Interpretation: Jing-mei
herself does not really understand what her mother
meant by these words, other than that the necklace
was of special significance, a treasured possession,
intended perhaps to show how strong the bond of
love is between a mother and a daughter.
Activity 1 after reading
Encourage students to speculate and to make
guesses, but do not tell them what happens, which,
briefly, is:
1 An-mei went to live in Wu Tsing’s house.
2 Ying-ying’s husband abandoned her, and she aborted
her child.
3 Lindo chose her own husband; they had a baby
quickly in order to obtain American citizenship.
Suggested answers. Other combinations are
possible.
1 Suyuan was married and had twin daughters. When
the Japanese army invaded China, she escaped from
a town called Kweilin, but left her daughters on the
road. She was taken to hospital, where she heard
her husband was dead. Soon afterwards she met and
married another man.
2 An-mei’s father died and her mother became the
concubine of a rich man. When An-mei was nine
years old, she went to live with her mother at the
rich man’s house. Later, her mother poisoned
herself, choosing the day carefully so that the rich
man would have to bring An-mei up as his own.
When she grew up, she married and went to live in
the USA, where she had seven children.
3 Lindo’s parents arranged a marriage for her, and
when she was twelve years old, she was sent to live
with her future in-laws. It was not a happy life, and
so after a few years she managed to persuade her
mother-in-law that the marriage contract should be
broken. Soon afterwards she moved to the USA and
married again.
4 Ying-ying married a man who deceived her and
then abandoned her. This made her so unhappy that
she killed her unborn baby. Many years later she met
an American. She married him and they went to the
USA but she never really recovered from losing her
first child.
mAgpies, WAiting betWeen the trees, DoubLe
Activity 2 after reading
before reADing on
Waverly: asking for salted fruit, a chess set, a fur
jacket
Rose: a check for $10,000, an overgrown garden,
death of a brother, by drowning
Lena: a bed next to a wall, eating too much ice
cream, a badly-made table
Jing-mei: having piano lessons, a crab with a
missing leg, a piece of jade on a gold chain
Suggested explanations:
s Waverly learnt a lesson when her mother refused to
give her salted fruit, unless she was able to control
herself and not ask for it. The chess set that was given
to the family set her on the path to becoming a chess
prodigy. When her mother criticized the fur jacket
that Rich gave her, Waverly felt that the gift also lost
value as an expression of affection. It was yet another
example of her mother’s ability to make white seem
black.
© Oxford University Press
fAce, A pAir of ticKets while reading
1 FThe turtle’s message to An-mei was that crying is
useless, and makes your life sad.
2 FAn-mei’s mother was ashamed to be Wu Tsing’s
concubine.
3 T
4 FYing-ying remembered her first husband with
bitterness and shame, and had killed his unborn
baby because she hated him so much.
5 FYing-ying thought that her daughter had no way
of knowing things inside, no ability to see below the
surface of things.
6 FLindo wanted her children to have American
circumstances and a Chinese character.
7 T
8 FSuyuan had left her twin babies by the roadside
with some money and jewellery, and an old
countrywoman found them and took them back to
her home.
9 T
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32 the joy luck club
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s Rose thought that the drowning of her brother was
her fault, because she was looking after him earlier.
When her husband sent her a check for $10,000, her
mother assumed he must be having an affair; this
turned out to be true. When Rose saw the overgrown
garden of their house, she knew she wanted to stay
there, and refused to let her husband get his own way.
s Lena ate too much ice cream on the day she heard of
Arnold’s death, because she blamed herself for it: she
hated ice cream for the rest of her life. Her husband’s
badly-made table symbolized the way her life with him
was out of balance. When she was a child, her bed
was next to the wall in the new apartment her family
had moved to, so she could hear the violent arguments
of her neighbours; at first she thought the girl next
door was in a worse situation than she herself was,
but soon she realized the opposite was true.
s (AVINGPIANOLESSONSCAUSEDCONFLICTBETWEENJing-mei
and her mother, and made Jing-mei realize she had
no special talent. Her mother took the crab with the
missing leg, and pointed out that Jing-mei never chose
the best-quality things, unlike Waverly. Her mother
gave her the piece of jade on a gold chain, calling it
her ‘life’s importance’, and Jing-mei treasured it far
more after her mother’s death.
1 This is Suyuan, thinking about Jing-mei.
‘She looks so amazed! Well, she had to know
sometime. It’s her story, too, in a way. They’re her
sisters. And when I find them – because I know
I will, it’s just a question of time, – we’ll all be
together, a family of five!’
2 This is Lindo, thinking about Rich and Waverly.
‘How could he refuse a second serving? He ate
nothing! What a rude young man! A bad husband
for my daughter. But what can I do? I taught her
how to live with Americans. Now she wants to
marry one!’
3 This is Ying-ying, thinking about Lena and Harold.
‘What is this? Why do they write down what each
one has spent? Why does it matter who buys the ice
cream? Everything is out of balance in this house. It
will break into pieces, like their marriage. And my
daughter cannot see any of the signs.’
4 This is An-mei, thinking about Rose and Ted.
‘Hnnh! Now I understand. My daughter’s husband
feels guilty about something. That’s why he’s sent
her a check. And what do husbands feel guilty
about? Other women, of course! She won’t believe
me when I tell her, but a mother always knows.’
Activity 5 after reading
Encourage discussion of the four texts.
Feathers from a Thousand Miles Away : summary 2
The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates : summary 1
American Translation : summary 4
Queen Mother of the Western Skies : summary 3
Activity 4 after reading
The answers given are only suggestions:
ChWun Yu: So, little sister! We only learnt we had a
sister when your Auntie Lindo wrote to us. But you
must have known about us all your life.
oxford bookworms library stage 3
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Activity 6 after reading
Open answers. Encourage discussion.
33 the joy luck club
xxx
© Oxford University Press
Activity 3 after reading
activities answers
Jing-mei: Not really. It was only when I was a
teenager. One day Mama put a new ending on
her Kweilin story, and I suddenly realized that it
was all true. Before that I didn’t think it was a
real story.
ChWun hWa: Her Kweilin story? What was that?
Jing-mei: It was all about life in Kweilin in the war,
and her Joy Luck idea and the mah jong parties.
ChWun Yu: And so the new ending was all about us,
was it?
Jing-mei: Yes, it was about her escape from Kweilin,
and how she put you in a wheelbarrow and
pushed it along the road to Chungking until it
broke.
ChWun hWa: Aii-ya! A wheelbarrow! Those were
terrible days. Did Mama tell you many stories about
her life in China?
Jing-mei: No, she always told me the same Kweilin
story, over and over again.
ChWun Yu: The same story? That shows how much
Mama was thinking about us!
Jing-mei: Yes, she never stopped thinking about
you, or writing letters trying to find you.
ChWun hWa: Yes, your Auntie Lindo told us that in
her letter. But all the street names were changed,
you see, little sister. That’s why it was so difficult to
find us.
Jing-mei: All her life she dreamed of finding you
again.
ChWun Yu: Yes, we dreamed of finding her again too.
So sad for her. But she had you – you were a great
comfort to her.
Jing-mei: I don’t think I was. I think I was a great
disappointment to her.
ChWun hWa: Disappointment? I’m sure that’s not true!
Jing-mei: You see, she had such high hopes for me.
She wanted me to be a great pianist, and she
worked so hard to get me piano lessons, and
then to buy me a piano. But I failed her. I had no
musical talent at all.
ChWun Yu: It’s very hard to be a really good pianist,
you know.
Jing-mei: But I didn’t even try! I was lazy, I didn’t
practise. And I’ve always felt guilty about it.
ChWun hWa: But you mustn’t feel guilty. She was a
good mother to you, and I’m sure she loved you just
as you were.