The Joy Luck Club 1/6/03 Ch1 Jing-Mei Woo: The Joy Luck Club
In this chapter we are in
troduced to the Joy Luck Club which originated all the way back in China when Jing-Mei Woo's mother
Suyuan was in the city of Kweilin. At the Joy Luck Club a group of old Chinese women sit around and
eat and after that they sit down in a table to play a friendly game of Mah-Jong. At the Joy Luck C
lub there are 4 major members, Lindo Jong, Ying-ying St. Clair, An-Mei Hsu, and Suyuan Woo. In the
beginning of the chapter we learn that Suyuan has died and Canning Woo, Jing-Mei's father and Suyuan
's husband has asked Jing-Mei to take her mothers place at the Mah-Jong meeting. In this chapter we
learn of how Suyuan had lived in China and during the war as the Japanese were slowly invading Chin
a, she had to take her family and leave for the city of Kweilin while her husband, Suyuan's first hu
sband that is, goes off to Chunking to fight the Japanese. In this chapter we learn about the other
Mah Jong players, Lindo Jong, mother of the young girl Waverly, Ying-ying, a woman married to a whi
te man and An-Mei Hsu. In the end of the chapter they old ladies tell Jing-Mei how they have contac
ted her long lost sisters and they want to send her to China to meet them.
The story i
s quite interesting so far, its interesting to see how the women in this story resemble the way my o
wn Chinese grandmother acts. Its quite funny too actually be able to know what Mah Jong is although
I have been so white washed. I was born here in America so all I've ever known is American culture
and although I look 100% like a Chinese kid would, when I went to visit China for the first time I
felt so different from them. Ch2 An-Mei Hsu: Scar
We learn how An-Mei's father is long
gone and that her grandmother who has been a predominant figure in her life is slowly dying. While
An-Mei is describing her dying Grandmother (Popo), she talks about her real mother who had dishonor
ed the family by going off to marry a man with many wives thereby getting herself disowned by her ow
n family. As the grandmother is dying, An-Mei's mother comes back and as a last resort, tries to sa
ve grandmother by cutting off a piece of her own flesh and sticks it into a soup that she tries to f
eed to her mother (the grandmother).
I thought it was interesting to see an example of
an old Chinese remedy for something. I kind of wonder if that was even a real remedy, rather harsh
and repelling if you ask me. Ch3 Lindo Jong The Red Candle In this story Lindo, the mother of Waver
ly Jong, the National Chess Champion talks about her own struggles. In China Lindo was forced to ma
rry a man named Tyan-yu whom she didn't love at all. When she was finally married to him, she would
avoid him and the groom's mother realized this and hired a marriage counselor type of person to hel
p fix things. The marriage counselor lit a candle and said if it was still lit the next day without
going out then the marriage will last forever and even if the groom dies, Lindo may never remarry a
gain. Upset, Lindo tries to blow out the candle and succeeds but the next day the servant lies abou
t the candle not going out. Lindo now becomes desperate and tries to devise lies to help her get ou
t of there and finally succeeds and the husband eventually marries one of the pregnant servants and
Lindo is sent to America.
The odd part of this story was how I was able to empathize
with the other characters in their discussions of their hardships when they were younger while I cou
ldn't with Lindo. Maybe I'm biased because of how Lindo is so harsh and headstrong towards the othe
r characters in this story. She in my mind seems to be a great description of the family members in
my own life, for they are all harsh and headstrong towards each other.
Ch 4 Ying-ying St. Clair: T
he Moon Lady
In Chapter 4 we learn about Ying-ying. As a child Ying-ying came from a
wealthy family. Unlike she is now Ying-ying was once a very problem child, because she was so spoile
d by her family she never thought twice about doing things and because of that she ended up getting
lost at what was called "The Moon Festival". At the Moon festival she watches a play about the Moon
Lady whom she takes as the real person but then realizes her own stupidity and leaves the festival
and if finally found by her family. An important part of this chapter is how Ying-ying ends it with
the words "I wished to be found". Those words to me tell me how she wants to be closer to her daug
hter and if granted one wish from the Moon Lady that would be it. Ying-ying doesn't like how her da
ughter is ashamed of her and has abandoned all of their Chinese traditions
In the prelude to The Tw
enty Six Malignant Gates I found it amusing to see how the little girl like all young children are h
eadstrong and seem to think they are impervious to the dangers of real life and she ignores her moth
ers advice until it is too late when she falls off the bike like her mother said would happen 1/8/03
Ch 5 Waverly Jong- Rules of the Game
In this chapter we learn about Waverly's life an
d how her mother has taught her "the art of invisible strength" which has allowed Waverly to do well
in life especially in the world of Chess where she became National Chess Champion at a very young a
ge. Waverly however hates her mother for even though she adopted her mother's quality of "invisible
strength" she dislikes everything about her mother from their culture to the way her mother acts.
Waverly unlike her mother doesn't like to brag about herself and is very upset at her mother who is
always comparing her child to everyone else's and using Waverly's fame to her own advantage. Ch6 Len
a St. Clair- The Voice from the Wall
This is the second story told from eyes of the da
ughters. Lena in this chapter describes the life of her mother when she was younger. Lena describes
Ying-ying as a paranoid and somewhat psychotic person who married her father Clifford St. Clair, an
d Englishman who spoke very little Chinese and was found unable to understand what her mother was sa
ying half the time they were together. Towards the end of the story Lena describes what is seems li
ke her mother Ying-ying had a miscarriage and Ying-ying who was already mentally unstable blames the
death of the unborn child on herself and becomes even more unstable. In this chapter we learn abou
t Lena's childhood neighbor who was always getting into fights and because in her own Chinese cultur
e when the children would argue with their elders, the argument would ensue a beating from the paren
ts so she always imagined her neighbor to look very beat up since they seemed to argue all the time
but to her astonishment when the neighbor sneaked into her house one day, the young girl was unharme
d and that same night could be heard laughing with her mother whom she had an argument with a few ho
urs earlier. Ch9
1/14/03 Ch 8 Jing-Mei Woo "2 Kinds"
I
thought it was funny to see how Jing-Mei's mother wanted her daughter to be like "Shirley Temple" b
ut then again it makes sense, Shirley Temple was America's Sweetheart in the early 90's so it would
be fitting since everyone wants the best for their children. It was also interesting to see June's
interest in piano after watching a Chinese girl play the piano on the television but she quickly los
t interest in the piano ever since she found out her teacher was deaf and therefore she stopped prac
ticing. Ch 9 Lena St. Clair "Rice Husband" In this chapter we look into Lena's life and find out tha
t she is married to a white man named Harold. At first they had a true love and enjoyed their life
together and decided to share all their costs but lately the marriage has begun to fall apart and th
e only thing still concrete in their marriage is their sharing of the costs of things they use and t
hat have become the root of most of their problems.
Ch 10 Waverly Jong "Four Directions"
Waverly who is trying to look for a way to tell her mother that she is getting married to her f
iancé Rich, takes her mother out for lunch but ends getting scrutinized by her mother like always.
With a certain un-eagerness Waverly invites Rich to meet her mother at her mothers house for dinner
and although the dinner was a complete disaster for Rich, Waverly in the end found out that her moth
er did approve of Rich and that event brings all three of them closer together than before. In the
beginning of the chapter we learn that Waverly is a smart young child but her mother has an iron gri
p on her life and Waverly's first marriage falls apart completely because of her mother and how she
began to see things the way her mother did about her husband.
Ch 11 Rose Hsu Jordan "Without Wood"
Rose for once doesn't believe what her mother says, which was about her husband Ted ch
eating on her which he really did do. The husband after filing for divorce tries to bully her but R
ose stays strong and is able to keep the house and keep her ex-husband in check.
Ch 12 Jing-Mei Woo
"Best Quality" In this chapter we learn how Suyuan hurts Jing-Mei, enough that Jing-Mei begins to d
oubt her mothers love for her but when New Years Eve comes along, Suyuan proves Jing-Mei wrong and t
hen Jing-Mei realizes how much her mother really loves her at dinner. Because of her mothers love f
or her, Jing-Mei never takes off the pendant Suyuan has given her before she died.
Ch 13 An-Mei Hsu
"Magpies"
In this chapter An-Mei is taken away to live with her mother. In this chap
ter both An-Mei and her daughter Rose wonder if their culture has made them weak in the eyes of soci
ety. An-Mei was upset at Rose earlier because of Rose's unwillingness to do anything about her husb
and request for a divorce. In this chapter we see how Chinese women couldn't do much with their liv
es, if they were unhappy all they could do was cry about it so when faced with these types of proble
ms in America, the both of them wouldn't know what to do although being in America they could do wha
tever they want.
Ch14 Ying-ying St. Clair "Waiting Between the Trees"
Ying-ying in th
is chapter reflects on her childhood and from her mistakes she wants her daughter Lena to learn from
. Ying-ying wants her daughter to lead a happy life, that her marriage is going to fall apart and s
he wants her daughter to be strong when this happens.
Ch 15 Lindo Jong "Double Face"
In this chapter we see the two cultures, the American culture represented by Waverly and the traditi
onal Chinese culture represented by her mother Lindo Jong. Waverly who was uncertain of herself, th
inks she'll be easily seen as a foreigner but Lindo says she won't be noticed. Later in the chapter
both mother and daughter become closer after Lindo decides to ask Waverly why the year before when
Lindo went to visit China, that they knew she was a foreigner despite all of her Chinese styles and
traditions still in tact with her.
Ch16 Jing Mei-Woo "A Pair of Tickets"
The last cha
pter of the book ends with the final daughter and mother couple coming together for Jing is able to
finally discover who she really is, for as American she is, she's also just as much Chinese. luck cl
ub jing luck club this chapter introduced luck club which originated back china when jing mother suy
uan city kweilin group chinese women around after that they down table play friendly game jong there
major members lindo jong ying ying clair suyuan beginning chapter learn that suyuan died canning ji
ng father husband asked take mothers place jong meeting this chapter learn lived china during japane
se were slowly invading china take family leave city kweilin while husband first husband that goes c
hunking fight japanese this learn about other players lindo mother young girl waverly ying woman mar
ried white they ladies tell they have contacted long lost sisters want send meet them story quite in
teresting interesting women story resemble chinese grandmother acts quite funny actually able know w
hat although have been white washed born here america ever known american culture although look like
chinese would when went visit first time felt different from them scar father long gone grandmother
been predominant figure life slowly dying while describing dying grandmother popo talks about real
mother dishonored family going marry with many wives thereby getting herself disowned family dying c
omes back last resort tries save cutting piece flesh sticks into soup tries feed thought interesting
example remedy something kind wonder even real remedy rather harsh repelling lindo candle story wav
erly national chess champion talks about struggles forced marry named tyan whom didn love when final
ly married would avoid groom realized hired marriage counselor type person help things marriage coun
selor candle said still next without going then marriage will last forever even groom dies never rem
arry again upset tries blow candle succeeds next servant lies going becomes desperate devise lies he
lp there finally succeeds eventually marries pregnant servants sent america part able empathize with
other characters their discussions their hardships were younger while couldn with maybe biased beca
use harsh headstrong towards other characters mind seems great description members life harsh headst
rong towards each clair moon lady child came from wealthy unlike once very problem child because spo
iled never thought twice doing things because ended getting lost what called moon festival moon fest
ival watches play lady whom takes real person then realizes stupidity leaves festival finally found
important part ends words wished found those words tell wants closer daughter granted wish from lady
would doesn like daughter ashamed abandoned their traditions prelude twenty malignant gates found a
musing little girl like young children headstrong seem think impervious dangers life ignores mothers
advice until late falls bike said happen waverly rules game taught invisible strength which allowed
well especially world chess where became national chess champion very young however hates even thou
gh adopted quality invisible strength dislikes everything culture acts unlike doesn brag herself ver
y upset always comparing child everyone else using fame advantage lena clair voice wall second told
eyes daughters lena describes younger lena describes paranoid somewhat psychotic person married fath
er clifford englishman spoke little unable understand what saying half time were together towards de
scribes seems miscarriage already mentally unstable blames death unborn herself becomes more unstabl
e childhood neighbor always getting into fights culture children argue elders argument ensue beating
parents always imagined neighbor look beat since seemed argue time astonishment neighbor sneaked in
to house girl unharmed same night could heard laughing whom argument hours earlier kinds thought fun
ny wanted daughter shirley temple then again makes sense shirley temple america sweetheart early fit
ting since everyone wants best children also june interest piano after watching play piano televisio
n quickly lost interest piano ever since teacher deaf therefore stopped practicing rice look find wh
ite named harold first true love enjoyed together decided share costs lately begun fall apart only t
hing still concrete sharing costs things have become root most problems four directions trying tell
fianc rich takes lunch ends scrutinized certain eagerness invites rich meet mothers house dinner alt
hough dinner complete disaster rich approve event brings three them closer together than before begi
nning smart iron grip falls apart completely began rose jordan without wood rose once doesn believe
says which cheating really after filing divorce bully rose stays strong able keep house keep check b
est quality hurts enough begins doubt love years comes along proves wrong realizes much really loves
dinner never takes pendant given before died magpies taken away live both wonder made weak eyes soc
iety upset earlier unwillingness anything request divorce women couldn much lives unhappy could face
d these types problems both wouldn know being could whatever want waiting between trees reflects chi
ldhood mistakes wants lead happy fall apart strong happens double face cultures american represented
traditional represented uncertain thinks easily seen foreigner says noticed later both become close
r decides year before went visit knew foreigner despite styles traditions still tact pair tickets la
st book ends final couple coming discover really american also just muchEssay, essays, termpaper, te
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