The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan: THEMES/ TONE- MOOD

THEMES/ TONE- MOOD

Theme - Cultural differences

In the Novel The Joy Luck Club one of the major themes is the cultural differences between american and Chinese culture. The daughters Lena, Waverly, Rose and June feel that their mothers are old fashioned and that they don't understand American society, which creates a lot of problems in their relationships with each other. The mothers, Suyuan, An-Mei, Lindo, and Ying-ying feel that the daughters are too Americanized to understand Chinese culture, they want them to to be proud of their Chinese heritage and practice their values and traditions. The mothers and their daughters relationships are broken apart because of this cultural difference. But analyzing the daughters life's we could see that they are dealing with similar problems that their mothers had to deal in China. The daughters want to be seen as American not Chinese maybe because they want to hide their problems that many Chinese women like their mother have to deal with in China. In the end each mother really taught their daughter about Chinese way of living and when it its clear to them that they understand both cultures they understand each other and this brings them closer.

TONE AND MOOD

The tone in The Joy Luck Club is serious and sad especially when the mother tell their stories to their daughters because the stories weren't happy . The stories are told so we could see how the characters had hope and how they feared. The mood in the novel was sometimes sorrowful for example when June mother died. It is also very sad and tragic because the novel focus on a lot of bad stuff that happen to the mothers in china. There was also some uplifting mood for example the hope , love and understanding.

Prevalent Themes

Love - The mothers love their daughters and want the best for them but they show it in a different way to an american.

Communication- The communication between the daughters and mothers where not the best they had a though time expressing their feelings they would express their feelings in a unusual way. There was lack of communication which lead to misinterpreting the mothers feelings towards the daughter.

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Jing-mei Woo (June) - June is an American Chinese. She is the daughter of Suyuan. June always felt of her mother high expectation and critics as lack of fondness but really it was because her mother had faith in her and loved her . June takes her mother place in the joy luck club - a club of her mother long time friends after her mother death. June feels that she doesn't know her mother well but her feelings change towards her mother when she goes to China to meet her mother lost twin daughters. She tells the twin daughters her mother story.

Suyuan Woo - She is a strong women who had some hardships in her life. Suyuan is the founder of The Joy Luck Club . She raised her daughter in an american culture rather then her own Chinese. Suyuan lost her twin babies when she flee her home town on foot because the Japanese where coming. Suyuan believes that in america you can be whatever you want to be, that's way she raised he daughter like an american. Suyuan has a wish to be happy but she is missing one element to realize her wish which is to find her lost twin daughters. She dies before her wish happens.

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Waverly Jong- is very smart and competitive. She's also very independent, stubborn and she likes to be a leader and in control . She is also independent from her mother. She doesn't want to take her mother advices and opinions but it's shown in the book that she longs for her mother approval of her dating a white man. She doesn't have a good relationship with her mother, her mother feels that she is too american and blames herself for it.

Lindo Jong- She knows how to hide her feelings and when to reveal them. Lindo feels that by naming her daughter Waverly she made her too american and feels that that's what separates them. She wants the best for her daughter. In China she was forced to marry . It was a horrible marriage and she also had to promise to her parents that she will not run away from the marriage. She kept her promise but found a way around to leave the marriage. she also have a clever mind to get what she wants.

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Lena St. Clair- Lena is married to Harold Livotny. They keep separated bank accounts so they don't own anything to each other. This suppose to solve problems but it actually creates problems. Lena is very submissive to her husband. She feels that separating their finances is stupid and she doesn't want to do it. But she give in all the time. She also didn't have a good connection with her parents. She couldn't stand up for herself until her mother helped her by telling her her story. In a way Lena mimicked her mother relationship with her father.

Ying-ying St. Clair- She lets her husband do everything for her, he makes every decision . She is like a shadow, she couldn't stand up for herself. But when she was young she was different she was independent. She realized that her daughter learned from her to be a shadow. She told her story to her daughter in order to save her which she did .

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Rosa Hsu Jordan - Rosa is the daughter of An-mei Hsu. She is divorcing her husband Ted Jordan because she had unpassionate marriage with him. Shes been afraid that things will get out of her hands.That's way she likes to act safe. She blames herself for divorcing her husband. She actually blames herself whenever a bad situation occurs. Her mother helps her to became a stronger person, so that she could speak up for herself.

An-mei Hsu- When she lived in China she went to live with her mother but because of her mother suicide she learned to never let anyone take away her happiness. She becomes a strong person. She also believes in nengkan which is the power to do anything if you set up your mind to it.