The Joy Luck Club Characterization - 1301 Words

Characterization is a widely-used literary tool in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. Specifically, each mother and daughter is a round character that undergoes change throughout the novel. Characterization is important in the novel because it directly supports the central theme of the mother-daughter relationship, which was relevant in Tan’s life. Tan grew up with an immigrant mother, and Tan expresses the difficulties in communication and culture in the stories in her book. All mothers in the book are immigrants to America, and all daughters grew up living the American lifestyle, creating conflict between the mothers and daughters due to miscommunication. Characterization of the mothers and daughters in Amy Tan’s The Joy Club creates and†¦show more content†¦June wants to learn more about her mother and her culture with the added pressure of meeting Suyuan’s lost daughters in China. She starts to embrace the Chinese culture and is excited to eat a tra ditional Chinese meal, even though she does not get the chance (page 278). She also asks her father more about Suyuan’s time in China and the meaning of her name (page 280). When June finally meets her sisters, they murmur, â€Å"‘Mama, Mama’† (page 287). June finally feels a connection with her mother and with her Chinese background. Therefore, June’s character developed because of her mother’s passing. An-mei and Rose have similar character development in that Rose’s character development aided her relationship with An-mei. In â€Å"Scar† and â€Å"Magpies,† An-mei reveals how she was taught to desire nothing and swallow her tears. Because of her experience with a deceptive, multi-wife household and her mother’s suicide, An-mei taught Rose the opposite of this Chinese way. However, An-mei realizes that Rose came out the same way regardless of her teachings (page 215). An-mei tells Rose that Rose was born without wood and would bend to listen to other people if she was not careful (page 191). Rose grows up believing everything her mother says and is prone to nightmares led by Mr. Chou. In Rose’s failed marriage, she does not make any decisions and just lets things happen. Rose finally takes a look atShow MoreRelatedReflection On The Joy Luck Club1914 Words   |  8 PagesThe ‘Joy Luck Club’ is about reflection. As the mothers wisdom they’re sophistication and pain, their experience and love to their daughters, and the daughters come to learn and value their parents, the novel conveys its affluent messages. Amy Tan’s novel interprets that her story is about finding that aspect of hope that allows a person to survive, be strong, deal with whatever that person need to do with their life. Amy Tan shows the audience the struggle of the mother and daughters when risingRead MoreAnalysis Of Two Kinds By Amy Tan1567 Words   |  7 Pagesmother and daughter. Amy Tan is an author who writes about her life growing up as an Asian-American in Chinatown. Her novel The Joy Luck Club is a series of short stories about Chinese mothers and their assimilated daughters. One of these stories is â€Å"Two Kinds,† which looks into the life of Jing-Mei Woo and her struggle to gain a sense of self. Some key themes in The Joy Luck Club are the generational and intercultural differences among Chinese-American families, the complex mother-daughter relationshipRead More Chinese and American Cultures Essay example4350 Words   |  18 Pagesculture, it serves as the backdrop for the disorientation that occurs between generations. In their novels, Tan and Jen pinpoint the cause of this unbalance in the active dismissal of Chinese mothers by their Chinese-American children. In The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan calls close attention to the idea of unrealization and forgetfulness. 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