joy luck club

There are numerous conditions in human life that mold people into who they presently are. A
person's identity and way of thinking are influenced greatly due to their family's surroundings, and
relationships they are involved in. In the novel, The Joy Luck Club, the characters are generic, in
the sense that, although they are from different families, the problems and emotions experienced
are similar. The daughters are in an on-going search to discover themselves, who they are and
what they represent. With their precious mother-daughter bonds, four immigrants are bewildered
at American culture as they
struggle to instill in their daughters remnants of their Chinese heritage.
Throughout the course of the novel, the mystery of the mother-daughter
relationship is revealed to the reader by various means. First, such a strong connection can only
be the product of an essential, timeless, emotion called love: "She loved you very much, more than
her own life" (Tan 29). Unfortunately, in Chinese culture, mothers rarely say "I love you" and
find little to no time at all to provide for their daughter's emotional needs. Such attitudes
occasionally lead the children to sense that "My mother did not treat
me this way because she didn't love me. She just had a hard time showing her love for me" (Tan
45). As well, the link is also nourished in other ways, such as the swift protection of a mother's
young: "She grabbed my hand back so fast that I knew at that instant how sorry she was that she
had not protected me better" (Tan 111).
There are other ways in which the mystery of the mother-daughter relationship isuncovered.
Because of a mother's enduring love, they often put up high expectations that are often hard to
meet. As well, in the case of Waverly and June, a mother's love is expressed in the novel by
proudly showing off: "From the time we were babies, our mothers compared the creases in our
belly buttons, how shapely our earlobes were, how fast we healed when we scraped our knees "
(Tan 64). In any case, every small act or gesture done out of deep love for one another,
strengthens the bond, that is enkindled at
birth.
They are frightened. In me, they see their own daughters, just as ignorant,just as unmindful of all
the truths and hopes they have brought to America. They see daughters who grow up impatient
when their mothers talk inChinese, who think they are stupid when they explain things in fractured
English. They see daughters who will bear grandchildren born without any connecting hope
passed from generation to generation. (Tan 31) Culture gratly influences the youth of today as

American circumstances considerably
influenced the daughters of the novel. In some instances, the Western culture dominates as the
mothers strive on, in its shadow: " and because I remained quiet for so long now my daughter
does not hear me. She sits by her fancy swimming pool and hears her Sony Walkman, her
cordless phone " (Tan 64). Ying-Ying ponders upon the fact that, "She follows my Chinese ways
until she learned how to walk out the door by herself and go to school" (Tan 289). Because of
heavy resentment on the mother's part, in some instances,
the American culture is frowned upon and is stereotyped as having "morbid thoughts"(Tan 105).
Many problems, especially embarrassment, surface when the younger generation attempts to
become absorbed into a new culture, while the parents insist on clinging to their old ways. The
daughters experience troubles while trying to cope with their immigrant parents. There is an
obvious language barrier that may result in feelings, such as that of Jing-mei: "These kinds of
explanations made me feel my mother and I spoke two different languages, which we did. I talked
to her in English, she answered back in Chinese" (Tan 23). Often, the daughters feel ashamed.
The people who embarrass them and whom they resent are their parents: "I wish you wouldn't do
that, telling everybody I'm your daughter" (Tan 101). The young ladies later realize that it is
childish to think that way, and they focus on the future, rather then on past mistakes.
The children feel that their mothers nag constantly when moral issues are concerned, for example,
in the case of a divorce. An-mei prefers that her daughter talks and works out her personal
problems with her husband. If Rose's husband leaves her, then ultimately she must resort to a
divorce. Regardless of what the circumstances are, mothers are diligently looking out for the well
being of their daughters: " she'd do anything to warn me, to help me avoid some unknown
danger" (Tan 108). The mothers of the novel try their best to provide for their daughters, but this
is taken for granted at times. Lindo explains at one point that "inside I am ashamed. I am
ashamed she is
ashamed. Because she is my daughter and I am proud of her, and I am her mother but she is not
proud of me" (Tan 291).
but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character. How to obey parentsand listen to your
mother's mind Why easy things are not worth
pursuing. why Chinese thinking is best. No, this kind of thinking didn't

tick to her. She was too busy chewing gum, blowing bubbles bigger thanher cheeks. Only that
kind of thinking stuck. (Tan 290) A mother's hunger is to inject what is left of her way of life.
Obedience is first and foremost amongst the mothers: "Only two kinds of daughters, those who are
obedient and
those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient
Daughter!" (Tan 153). Materialistic needs are not worth pursuing but finding yourself is: "With
all these things, I did not care. I had no spirit" (Tan 286). Other times, in trying to instill what is
left of the Chinese heritage, the American way of life is blended in, but alas, "I wanted my
children to have the best combination: American circumstances
and Chinese character. How could I know these two do not mix?" (Tan 289).
The characters of the novel, The Joy Luck Club, unravel the intricacies of combining a Chinese
heritage with American circumstances and tell of the relationships between mothers and
daughters. The strong bond, that is present amongst the characters, will infinitely outlast all
obstacles. From each generation, all of the women "are like stairs, one step after another, going
up and down, but all going the same way" (Tan 241). There are advantages and disadvantages to
growing up with American circumstances, as well as learning and obtaining Chinese character, but
one must be chosen over the other to
be free. "I think about two faces. I think about my intentions. Which one is American? Which
one is Chinese? Which one is better? If you show one, you must always sacrifice the other" (Tan
304).Bottom of Form
Amy Tan weaves many elements of Taoism and Confucianism into the subtle fabric of The Joy
Luck Club. A reading of the text with attention to the way these two sacred systems interact
between each mother and daughter offers a unique way to make sense of her group of loosely
linked stories and ambiguous resolutions. Taoism as a tradition is concerned with conflicts and
ambiguities, asserting that ambiguities themselves are significant and may point to the invisible
core of life. Tan may weave elements of Taoism into the narrative to locate the "invisible core" of
Chinese women's culture, of the immigrant family and of the novel itself within apparent
conflicts or ambiguities. Tan's use of Confucianism may reveal her hypothesis of how a women's
version of that patriarchal ethico-moral-ritual tradition might be passed down from mother to
daughter and carried to America. Just as in the Confucian ritual system, very little of the

mother-tradition in the text is told explicitly from mother to daughter: ritual actions are supposed
to be observed, absorbed, read, and understood in order to be transformed, preserved and handed
down in turn.
I.
From a Taoist perspective, the fact that The Joy Luck Club is divided into four sections of four
stories each, about four mothers and four daughters, carries symbolic weight. In Taoism (see
Appendices I & II), there are not four directions, but five, the fifth being the dynamic center
(Corless, 2/13/92). The dynamic center of the novel is contained within the four sets of four
stories. For example, the four places at the Mah Jong table are thrown out of balance by the death
of Jing-Mei Woo's mother, and Jing-Mei must replace her at the table to restore the balance and
support the dynamic center which is the ritual of the game itself (Tan, 19, 22). In this same way,
the structure of the first section is unstable (due to her mother's death), and Jing-Mei must narrate
all four Woo stories in her mother's absence.
Confucianism and Taoism were both responses to times of conflict. Confucianism is usually
dominant in times of peace, while Taoism is dominant in times of war or strife. Jing-Mei's mother
created the Joy-Luck Club during a war, and although the Joy Luck Club is a ritual (Tan, 21), its
relativism is essentially Taoist:
People thought we were wrong to serve banquets
every week while many people in the city were
starving . . . to celebrate when even within our
own families we had lost generations . . .
(Tan, 11)
The Taoist, Chuangtze, was known to have sung songs and beat on a pot when his wife died, to the
horror of his neighbors. "If I should break down and cry aloud, I should be like one who does not
understand destiny [Tao; the relativity of life and death]. Therefore I stopped" (Yutang, 180). A
healthy sense of relativity is useful to the Taoist for dealing with life's extremes.
Jing-Mei completes the fourth corner of the Club after her mother's death, only to find that the
Aunts wish her to correct a greater imbalance: to meet her two sisters in China, and fulfill her filial
obligation to tell her sisters about their mother. The entire novel pivots around the Aunt's tension
("Tell them!") about the transference of the mother-tradition (Tan, 31).

The second tale, "Scar," introduces what Tan may be producing as women's version of Confucian
Analects: the Moral Tale. An-Mei Hsu absorbs these stories from Popo, the grandmother, who
bewilders the girl with stories of little girls with melons in their stomachs or brains leaking out of
their head (Tan, 34). These are Popo's attempts to instill concepts of shou, or filial respect, in
An-Mei and her little brother (Tan, 35). An-Mei only begins to understand the stories when she
realizes that her mother had no shou and that she therefore lost "face" (Tan, 36). Loss of face, in
Confucian terms, means a loss of social standing. Since one's social standing defines the self in the
Confucian context, the mother is, for all intents and purposes, "dead" to her family (Fingarette, 30;
Tan 33).
When Popo is sick and dying, the mother returns. An-Mei watches her slice a piece of skin off her
own arm to try and make a (Taoist magic) potion to heal the grandmother. This is a radical
demonstration of shou that goes deep into An-Mei's consciousness:
Even though I was young, I could see the pain of
the flesh and the worth of the pain. This is how
a daughter honors her mother. It is shou so deep
it is in the bones . . . You must peel off your
skin, and that of your mother, and her mother
before her. (Tan, 41)
This is the first of a series of images in the book which portray woman-tradition as stretching
backward in time.
"Red Candle," the next story, revolves around another Confucian principle, that of hsin,
trustworthiness, or "person who is reliable-in-word" (Lau, 25). Confucius wrote:"Let the ruler be a
ruler, the subject a subject, the father a father. the son a son" (Lau, 114). This means, one's
function or role defines the self in the Confucian context or the whole system breaks down. "To be
hsin in word applies to all of one's words . . . promises, resolutions concerning future conduct, or
even plain statements of fact" (Lau, 25). As with shou, if one is not hsin, one loses social standing.
Lindo Jong's story is an illustration of the importance of hsin and the way she circumvents it with
her integrity intact. She laments that in America promises are virtually meaningless, or at least
work by a different system than she is used to (Tan 42). In her backwater province of China, duty
meant "stupid, old-fashioned customs" such as matchmaking of wives who would "raise proper

sons, care for the old people, and sweep the family burial grounds" (Tan, 45). This is the sum and
total of what most women in Confucian society could expect unless they learned to manipulate
the system, which is exactly what Lindo Jong does, and does honorably.
Lindo's conflict is between her individual wishes and the expectations of her immediate
community. She knows her "standing," which is in the kitchen, and she must endure it in order that
her mother not lose face. At the wedding, her mother gives her a luck-pendent, a chang, with an
admonition to be obedient in the new family. But Lindo "lacks metal," one of the Taoist elements
said to determine one's personality a determination that is outside Confucian parameters and this
allows her to "think as an independent person" (Tan, 59). Because she is able to think in an
alternative system, she can value her self-identity above the communal identity. The pendant her
mother gives her directly opposes her mother's words: the pendant is the point of transference of
the mother-tradition, and with its "luck" comes the key to unlocking or adapting the Confucian
women's role without losing face.