Deception in The Joy Luck Club

876 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: An essay on deception

Deception binds the characters of the Joy Luck Club together. In the Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan depicts deception at almost every turn in the novel. Mothers often help their daughters through deceptive comments; husbands hide secrets from their wives through deceptive acts. Even best friends deceive each other as they struggle for one reason or another. Throughout the story, deception is an irreplaceable tool for parenting; for attempting to keep marriages together, or maintaining friendships. From time to time, it grows out of control from a benign lecture to a life changing scam.

Deception is an effective parenting tool. Maternal deception is present throughout the book as the mothers and grandmothers guide their daughters to happiness through misleading stories, and warnings to brighten their daughters’ future. This is particularly evident in the relationship between Waverly and her mother Lindo Jong. Earlier, Lindo learns that Waverly already secretly engaged with her fiancé Rich, but pretends not to know. She did not act on it so she could have an untainted view on whether Rich is a good husband for Waverly. This works well for Waverly, as Waverly put, “I came up with a brilliant plan. I concocted a way for Rich to meet my mother and win her over” (Amy Tan 194). Many family friends come over to have dinner at Lindo’s house. During the dinner, Waverly introduces Rich to Lindo, and Lindo wastes no time as “she scrutinized him from head to toe, checking her appraisal of him…” (Tan 195-196) When Waverly asks Lindo of her opinion about Rich, her only comment is on his freckles. In the end, it turns out that the random comment means that she is fine with him, but it does deceive Waverly that Lindo might not like Rich. Lindo appears ...

... middle of paper ...

...sing fake suicide, she manipulates Wu Tsing to give her more money and power over the household. Her only lack is in children. Even this is solved as she conspires and succeeds to steal Wu Tsing’s Fourth wife’s son as her own. Having a son in Chinese culture meant that she gets even more power over the household. Second wife’s insatiable desire constantly grows bigger, until it completely redefines her life.

In many cultures, deception does not directly imply evil, but a useful tool that can solve problems quickly. For kind purposes, parents use deception to advise, teach and help their children to have a better lives. While for others, deception is for selfish reasons. Throughout the Joy Luck Club, many complain about being victims of deception, but they too are deceiving others. It is a skill passed down from generation to generation.

Works Cited

joy luck club

Show More
Related

  • An Analysis Of Wendell Berry A Half-Pint Of Honesty

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “A Half-Pint of Old Darling”, by Wendell Berry, being honest is an important factor in a relationship. Miss Minnie and Ptolemy Proudfoot are a prime example as such when they keep secrets from one another, but then fix some things with the truth. They head over a major road bump that is eventually solved after being honest with one another. It seemingly makes their relationship stronger when the story concludes. Most of the secrets are kept in fear of hurting the other, which ends up happening one day when Tol sneaks Old Darling alcohol into their buggy. It is seen that hiding the truth means one is not being honest to his or her self, as well as to another. In this story, secrets leave speculation as to just how well Miss Minnie and Ptolemy Proudfoot’s relationship really is, and if things end up changing after a huge mistake.

    Read More

  • Mentally Abusive Relationship In Amy Tan's Rules Of The Game

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Mother walks through the city streets boisterously proclaiming that her daughter is a chess champion. She says, “This is my daughter Waverly-ly Jong.” Waverly quickly informs her mother that she is uncomfortable with her bragging to everyone. Despite the fact that Waverly is embarrassed, her mother does not care about how Waverly feels. Waverly finally snaps, when she says, “I knew it was a mistake to say anything more, but I heard my voice speaking, ‘Why do you have to use me to show off? If you want to show off, then why don’t you learn to play chess?’” Waverly understands that she is being used by her mother. She feels as if she is an animal in a zoo, who is behind a glass window, and out in display for all to see. For the first time Waverly is able to express how she feels about her mother’s control and mental abuse. Furthermore, Waverly insists that her mother is going to have to learn to play chess herself, if she wants all the attention. This climatic scene should be followed with a happy-ending; a moment of mother and daughter bonding, although the contrary occurs. The Mother is certainly not going to allow Waverly to insult her by expressing her opinion. Regardless of how upset Waverly is, the Mother will not stop publically proclaiming Waverly’s greatness. The Mother needs the attention of other people, “Most studies will show that mothers and fathers hell-bent on this image of perfection desperately need the world to take note of their kids’ awesomeness. It’s a way of saying, see, my kids are great. Therefore, I am great. Look at me. See? I’m a great parent. Really, I am” (Gault). Waverly’s mother desperately desires to be seen as successful and perfect. Announcing to everyone in the city that Waverly is a chess champion is her way of calling attention to herself. The only time Waverly gets the slightest

    Read More

  • Characterization in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club uses much characterization. Each character is portrayed in different yet similar ways. When she was raised, she would do whatever she could to please other people. She even “gave up her life for her parents promise” (49), I the story The Red Candle we get to see how Tan portrays Lindo Jong and how she is brought to life.

    Read More

  • Deception's Role In Great Expectations

    951 Words  | 2 Pages

    Deception causes characters to feel pain and to have lowered self-confidence. It also causes people in real life pain. Therefore, deception versus reality needs to be recognized in real life and its effects on people can be seen from characters in Great

    Read More

  • The Joy Luck Club Analysis

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, four Chinese born mothers and their four American born daughters tell stories from their own point of view about their relationships with one another. These four mothers demonstrate the finest parenting by trying to keep their heritage alive and educate their daughters, while being immigrants. Through the mothers' actions, they are able to teach and influence their daughters about their Chinese heritage, about everyday life and situations, and how to stand up for themselves all while being in an overwhelming American society.

    Read More

  • Bond between Mothers and Daughters in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

    1751 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the novel, The Joy Luck Club, author Amy Tan explores the issues of  tradition and change and the impact they have on the bond between mothers and daughters. The theme is developed through eight women that tell their separate stories, which meld into four pairs of mother-daughter relationships.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Lying In Blackburn's Being Good

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    When parents tell their children how great the pictures they drew in school even though were realistically mediocre, is a primary example of dishonesty for the better of others. One of the roles of parents is to provide their children with optimism and support so they learn to be motivated and strive for success. Despite their children’s flaws in certain skills, parents feel obligated to provide them with dishonesty because their kids desire positivity about themselves. Lying is one way to protect people’s feelings about themselves.

    Read More

  • Influences of the Past

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan portrays the effects of childhood events on the roles and attitudes of the present lives each character must face. Particularly, Lena St. Clair felt restricted by her mother as she shields her from the dangers of the outside world. Consequently, when Lena did face trouble, she was unable to fight back and saw evil in everything she saw. Furthermore, the constant conflict that arose from the male superiority in Ying-Ying’s marriage and her miscommunications with her husband influenced Lena’s present behavior. Instead of expressing her own concerns, Lena allows her husband to make major decisions. Influenced by her childhood experiences and the troubles of the marriage between her parents, Lena inherits a passive role in her relationship to Harold.

    Read More

  • Gender and Its Relationship with the Joy Luck Club

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Joy Luck Club, is a film that shows a powerful portrayal of four Chinese women and the lives of their children in America. The film presents the conflicting cultures between the United States and China, and how men treat women throughout their lives. People living in the United States usually take for granted their roles as a male or female. The culture of each country shapes the treatment one receives based on the sex of the individual. Gender roles shape this movie and allows people, specifically the United States, to see how gender are so crutcial in othe countries.

    Read More

  • Mother Daughter Relationships - The Mother-daughter Relationship in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan explores mother-daughter relationships, and at a lower level, relationships between friends, lovers, and even enemies. The mother-daughter relationships are most likely different aspects of Tan's relationship with her mother, and perhaps some parts are entirely figments of her imagination. In this book, she presents the conflicting views and the stories of both sides, providing the reader--and ultimately, the characters--with an understanding of the mentalities of both mother and daughter, and why each one is the way she is.

    Read More

  • Mothers and the Chinese Spirit in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club

    2111 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Joy Luck Club is the telling of a tale of struggle by four mothers and their four daughters trying to understand the issue of gender identity, how they each discover or lose their sense of self and what they mean to one another. Throughout the book each of the mothers works hard at teaching their daughters the virtues of Chinese wisdom while allowing the opportunities of American life. They try passing on a piece of themselves despite the great barriers that are built between the women. Each of the stories gives a wonderful glimpse into the Chinese culture and heritage that the mothers are trying to reveal to their daughters through the use of festivals, food dishes, marriage ceremonies, and the raising of children, essentially their past experiences.

    Read More

  • Lying vs. Truth-Telling in Genesis, Othello, and The Lie

    1135 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although it is considered wrong to tell lies, it seems that literature has offered us situations where telling lies isn’t necessarily bad. Of course, lying often has a tragic outcome, but not always for the person or people who told the lie or lies. Oftentimes, these unfortunate outcomes are directed at the person about whom the lie was told. Furthermore, these stories have explained that dishonesty can result in success for both the liar and the target. Maybe we have been teaching the wrong values to our children.

    Read More

  • Mothers and Daughters in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club, the reader can see the difficulites in the mother-daughter relationships.  The mothers came to America from China hoping to give their daughters better lives than what they had.  In China, women were “to be obedient, to honor one’s parents, one’s husband, and to try to please him and his family,” (Chinese-American Women in American Culture).  They were not expected to have their own will and to make their own way through life.  These mothers did not want this for their children so they thought that in America “nobody [would] say her worth [was] measured by the loudness of her husband’s belch…nobody [would] look down on her…” (3).  To represent everything that was hoped for in their daughters, the mothers wanted them to have a “swan- a creature that became more than what was hoped for,” (3).  This swan was all of the mothers’ good intentions.  However, when they got to America, the swan was taken away and all she had left was one feather.

    Read More

  • The Mother-Daughter Relationship In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

    1750 Words  | 4 Pages

    The mother-daughter relationship is often complex and confusing. Amy Tan explores this relationship with novel The Joy Luck Club narrated by four daughters and three mothers: Jing-mei Woo, Rose Hsu Jordan, Lena St. Clair, Waverly Jong, An-mei Jordan, Ying-Ying St. Clair, and Lindo Jong. June narrates in her late mother's place. The mothers talk about their difficult pasts in China and how they have been changed. The trauma from their past causes their daughters not to be able to connect to . The women are finally able to connect to each other. The women are forced to learn from the past, overcome adversity, and learn to understand one another.

    Read More

  • Improving Mother/Daughter Relationships in Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the novel the reader is introduced to the characters one by one learning about their past and their present lives.   Each chapter deals with individual stories of relationships between husband and wife, mother and daughter,  and even daughter and daughter.  Every story helps the reader learn how important the mother daughter relationship is in The Joy Luck Club.

    Read More

More about Deception in The Joy Luck Club

Open Document