Textual Analysis Worksheet
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Book Author: Amy Tan
Book Title: The Joy Luck Club
Setting: “The Joy Luck Club” narrative context took place in the year 1920 to the early 1960s in different areas of America and the China Republic, respectively, and these occasions unfolded within different time frames. These events comprise of different period involving: the years when the narrators’ mother was a child back in China, the youthful period of the mother that included her moving to the United States, the period when the narrator’s daughter was born in the U.S along with period of interaction between the daughters and their old mothers.
Point of View: The story is sorrowful and sad since it contains a series of touching linked narratives illustrating conflicts and hatred that is between mothers from China and their daughters who are raised in the United States. The novel focuses on Jing-mei, the narrator, who had to travel back to their original home to meet up with her two sisters, who happened to be twins. The two siblings to Jing-mei were forced to remain in China since the narrator’s mother had no choice but to abandon them on the roadside to get a flight in Japan to America during the hard times of World War II.
The narrator’s mother: Suyuan, had planned to return to China to pick the two sisters, but unfortunately, she died before tracing them. It was this period when Jing-mei was fortunately born in San Francisco, United States. When Suyuan died, she was forced to take the lead and replace her mother in the family and the Joy Luck Club that was initiated by her mother, Suyuan. The Joy club organized by her mother comprised of two members, the three old friends to her mother along with other immigrants from China. To assist Jing-mei, the club members advised and informed Jing that before the death of her mother, Suyuan had managed to trace the address of the two twin sisters back in China. Moreover, the three old friends to Suyuan pleaded to Jing to travel back to China and explain to the half-sisters about their loving mother. Jing-mei was full of doubt if the half-sisters could comprehend and understand their mother’s story since their mother’s lifestyle was unknown and not appreciated even by her.
Plot: The plot of the story encompasses different four segments, whereby each section speaks of four different stories. According to the first narrative, Suyuan and other mothers having a discussion, both recall their amazing experiences with their old mothers, and this worries them that their daughters will have no extraordinary experience that possesses equal intensity.
The second segment involves different daughters, namely, Jing-mei, Lena, Rose, and Waverly, respectively, that try to remember their mother’s relationship back when they were children. The link seemed to be unknown due to how the daughters explain their mother’s fear and life. Additionally, in the third segment, sorrow and grief are illustrated when all the daughters describe what they went through during their marriages and their professional careers. They grumbled that they had to undergo pain and torture for them to survive in their marriages. However, despite them believing that the old fashioned ideas from their mother were useless and could not apply to their current lifestyle in the United States, all solutions to their problem came from their old lifestyle. Finally, the last segment speaks on how the mothers try to offer amicable solutions to support their daughters’.
Literary Period: Despite the twenty-first-century writing, the novel was written between 1985 and 1989 during the period of cultural exchange when literature was emerging. This period narrative was essential to explain the cultural aspects to be embraced or condemned in society. Like in “The Joy Luck Club” novel, realism tends to stop the application of foreshadowing. Although, due to many characters involving different mothers and daughter’s relationships, several challenges such as struggles and suffering in marriages faced by the old mothers tend to recur in their daughter’s future lives. Some of the strength and weakness like conflict and low-income family relationship possessed by the mother mostly Suyuan, reflected her daughters in the future since it’s clear that the daughters experienced marriage and career struggles having same life issues with other women or men such as submission against independence along with inactiveness versus confidence.
Why is This Text Important: This story is considered to be significant because it sheds more light on the relationship between a group of mothers and their daughters. They experience different lifestyles and cultures in different countries due to civil wars that occurred in Japan. The mother-daughter relationship is not well bonded because of the conflict that is between the daughters against their mother, Suyuan, who died without them reconciling. The daughters, as a result, experience the same struggles in marriage and their career that was previously experienced by their mother. However, despite the efforts, different generations and cultures, reconciling of Jing-mei and the twin sisters, brought hope and harmony to the associates of the Club.
References
Heung, M. (2000). Daughter-text/mother-text: matrilineage in Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club. Amy Tan.