Joy Luck Club
Joy Luck ClubIn the novel, The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, the characters Suyuan and Jing-Mei Woo have a mother-daughter relationship confused with scattered conflict, but ultimately composed of deep love and commitment for one another. Because of drastic differences in the environments in which they were raised and in their life experiences, these two women have some opposing ideas and beliefs. This, and their lack of communication are responsible for many of the problems they face in their relationship.
These conflicts are only resolved when June learns about her mother’s past. The way that their relationship develops, and the conflicts June and Suyuan face, reveal some of the themes that Amy Tan intends for the readers to learn. These themes concern such topics as finding our life’s importance, making choices, and understanding ourselves and our families.
Most of the conflicts that June and her mother face are based on misunderstandings and negligence concerning each other’s feelings and beliefs. June does not understand or even fully know her mother because she does not know about her tragic past and the pain she still feels from the memory of it. Because Suyuan lost two daughters in China, and her entire family was killed in the war, she leaves this place behind her and places all of her hopes in America and her family there. She wants the very best for her daughter June. Even her name, Suyuan, meaning “long-cherished wish,” speaks of this hope for Jing-Mei, meaning “the pure, essential, best quality younger sister.” Suyuan tells her daughter June that she can be anything she wants to be, and that she has great talent. At first June is excited and dreams about what she will become: “In all my imaginings, I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect. My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the need to sulk for anything.” (p. 143) Suyuan pushes June to be successful in many different areas such as dance, academics, trivia, and piano.
After failing to excel at each task set before her, June begins to feel more and more resentment towards her mother. She sees her mother’s hopes as expectations, and when she does not live up to these, she feels like a failure. The final incident, when June performs a piano piece filled with mistakes at a talent show, makes June believe that her mother is completely ashamed and disappointed with her. June looked through the crowd to her mother’s face. She thought to herself, “…my mother’s expression was what devastated me: a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything.” (p. 143) What June did not realize, was that the real reason why her mother was upset was not because she had not lived up to her expectations. She was unhappy because June did not care about having the best for herself. She did not have high hopes...
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